(s€csi,0t4~**c£Z 


ROYAL    TRUTHS 


«  BY 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER, 

AUTHOR  OF  "LIFE  THOUGHTS,"  "EYES  AND  EARS,"  ETC. 


BOSTON: 

TICKNOR    AND    FIELDS. 
1866. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

TICKNOR    AND     FIELDS, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS:  WELCH,  BIGELOW,  &  Co., 
CAMBRIDGE. 


PREFATORY. 


DEAR  MR.  FIELDS,  —  I  comply  with 
your  request  and  send  you  a  copy  of  "  Roy- 
al Truths."  Its  history  is  this:  When,  in  the 
summer  of  1863,  I  lauded  in  England,  my  first 
trip  was  to  Northern  Wales.  I  arrived  late  on 
Saturday  at  Bedgellert,  and  spent  Sunday  there. 
An  estimable  young  Welsh  clergyman  called  to 
request  me  to  preach,  which,  yet  drenched  with 
the  ocean,  I  declined  to  do.  In  the  course  of 
conversation  he  spoke  of  having  read  my  works, 
and  mentioned  "  Royal  Truths  "  among  the 
number.  Supposing  him  to  have  mistaken  the 
title  of  "  Life  Thoughts,"  I  corrected  him. 
"Yes,  I  have  read  'Life  Thoughts,'  too;  but 
'  Royal  Truths,'  I  mean."  "  But,  my  dear  sir, 
there  is  no  such  work  of  mine.  I  never  issued 
such  a  work,  nor  heard  of  it.  If  it  exist,  it 
must  be  by  some  other  person."  —  No;  he  was 
firm,  and  declared  that  I  should  find  it  at  Stra- 


iv  PREFATORY. 

ban's  in  London !  Sure  enough,  on  reaching  the 
capital,  I  found  a  book  by  myself,  of  which  I 
had  never  heard.  It  seems  that  some  one  had 
taken  from  my  sermons,  published  every  week, 
such  extracts  as  were  fitted  for  standing  alone, 
and  framed  them  into  a  book,  baptizing  it  "  Roy- 
al Truths,"  of  which,  as  you  will  see  by  the 
copy  which  I  send  you,  six  editions  had  been 
published  in  1862,  and  I  know  not  how  many 
since.  The  book  is,  therefore,  mine,  and  not 
mine.  I  furnished  the  contents,  but  neither 
selected  them,  nor  gave  them  a  name. 

My  surprise  at  this  unconscious  authorship 
would  have  been  greater,  if  I  had  not  already 
had  a  not  dissimilar  experience,  which,  perhaps, 
it  may  be  amusing  to  narrate. 

In  1861  or  1862,  a  gentleman  in  New  York 
happened  into  a  friend's  store,  a  publisher,  who 
handed  him  a  little  book,  called  "  Aids  to  Prayer," 
saying  that  it  was  an  English  work,  just  sent 
over  to  him,  and  that  he  liked  it  so  much  that 
he  immediately  determined  to  republish  it  for 
American  reading.  The  gentleman  took  home 
the  work,  and  the  next  day  returned  to  the  store, 
saying,  "I  like  your  little  book  very  much,  and 
always  have."  —  "  Why ;  what  do  you  mean  ?  " 


PREFATORY.  v 

"  The  book  is  made  up  wholly,  except  some  texts 
and  hymns,  of  Mr.  Beecher's  writings,  and  may 
be  found  in  '  Views  and  Experiences.' '  There- 
upon, the  mortified  but  innocent  publisher  post- 
ed the  book  to  me,  with  apologies  for  violating 
copyrights,  etc.  The  work  had,  with  a  single 
exception,  been  taken  bodily  from  the  English 
"  Summer  in  the  Soul,"  which  was  the  new  name, 
given  without  my  knowledge,  by  London  pub- 
lishers, to  my  book  called  "  Views  and  Experi- 
ences in  Religion."  Nor  was  there  a  hint  of 
its  Transatlantic  origin  or  authorship,  —  for  fear, 
said  the  publisher,  that  others  would  "  print  it 
upon  him,"  (I  think  that  is  the  phrase,)  unless 
they  supposed  it  to  be  an  original  English  book ! 

"Royal  Truths"  has  been  useful  abroad,  and 
may  do  good  at  home,  —  in  part,  because  the 
selections  are  short,  and  can  be  read  in  mo- 
ments, when  a  book  demanding  hours  would 
be  rejected. 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.,  November,  1865. 


ROYAL    TRUTHS. 


LL  along  the  way  of  life  we  have  premoni- 
tions of  a  coming  future.  Our  very  struggles, 
our  sorrows  and  yearnings,  are  so  many  indi- 
cations of  that  coming  state.  The  tears  that 
men  shed,  if  they  be  of  ungodly  sorrow,  are  of  no -moral 
moment ;  but  jewels  every  one,  if  they  are  symbols  of 
unrest  which  the  inward  life  experiences  by  reason  of 
the  imperfection  of  the  outward  life.  In  this  state  we 
groan  being  burdened,  the  apostle  said,  not  that  we  would 
be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon.  We  groan  not  so  much 
because  we  are  discontented  with  the  allotments  of  God's 
providence  here,  but  because  He  has  given  us  a  concep- 
tion of  things  hereafter  so  much  better,  that  our  aspira- 
tions rise  above  the  present,  with  longing  for  the  future. 
It  is  not  so  much  discontent  as  aspiration.  There  is  high 
meaning  in  these  yearnings  of  the  soul.  The  summer  is 
passing ;  the  autumn  is  coming ;  birds  are  gathering ; 
they  meditate  a  far-distant  flight.  And  shall  the  soul 
have  no  sense  of  migration  ?  There  come  to  God's  chil- 
dren hours  of  transfiguration  in  which  the  heavens  are 
opened,  the  ground  is  suffused  with  glory,  and  Christ, 
our  Head  and  Saviour,  shines  out  royally  before  us. 

1  A 


2  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

And  these  momentary  glances  into  the  invisible  world 
are  the  most  precious  part  of  a  man's  life. 


THE  crucifixion  of  Christ  was  that,  on  the  scale  and  in 
the  spheres  of  Infinity,  which  we  see  every  day  on  the 
scale  of  the  cradle  and  the  nursery.  And  the  brightest 
thing  which  we  see  in  this  world  is  not  the  most  conspic- 
uous thing  ;  it  is  the  most  hidden  and  obscure,  —  it  is  the 
accepting  of  Iffe,  as  the  mother  does,  for  the  sake  of  an- 
other life,  —  it  is  the  accepting  that  love  as  the  centre  of 
attraction,  and  the  point  around  which  it  revolves,  and 
making  night  and  day  glad  and  songful  and  cheerful,  only 
because  it  gives  permission  to  yield  everything  a  tribute 
to  another  nature,  —  to  the  service  of  another  and  an  un- 
requiting  being,  —  for  the  least  helpful  and  least  requiting 
thing  is  an  overgrown  child.  And  there  is  a  love  bright- 
er than  the  morning  sun,  fairer  than  the  evening  star, 
and  more  constant  than  either,  —  there  is  a  love  sweeter 
than  all  the  blossoms  in  the  fields  to-day,  clearer  than 
the  whole  air  that  fills  the  earth  to-day,  —  the  love  most 
unselfish,  and  therefore  most  divine,  that  makes  suffering 
itself  most  sweet,  and  sorrow  pleasure,  —  that  love  which 
the  mother  bears  to  the  child,  —  the  mother  that  is  in  par- 
entage. It  is  the  only  one  that  glows  with  any  consider- 
able resemblance  to  that  great  central  fire  from  which  it 
flows,  for  it  is  a  revelation  of  the  love  of  God,  it  is  a  suf- 
fering love,  it  is  the  whole  self-hood,  the  whole  being, 
used  simply  as  a  universal  instrument  for  others'  welfare ; 
and  it  is  that  which,  it  seems  to  me,  above  all  other  things, 
our  Lord  and  Master,  Christ,  came  into  the  world  to  ex- 
press, —  to  express  first,  by  coming,  then  by  the  way  in 
which  he  lived,  to  express,  as  we  understand  life,  charac- 
ter, and  conduct,  by  the  way  in  which  He  died. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  3 

THE  Apostle  Paul,  with  extraordinary  courage  and 
fidelity,  set  forth,  against  the  whole  reigning  intellectual 
forces  of  the  world,  his  faith  in  Christ.*  He  insisted  on 
presenting  that  side  of  Christ's  life  and  history  which  was 
the  least  acceptable  to  the  world,  which  was  most  repul- 
sive to  educated  men.  To  us,  now,  there  can  be  no  full 
sympathy  with  that  hatred  of  Christ  crucified  which  then 
existed.  Now  it  is  nothing  to  preach  Christ  crucified,  or 
the  cross  of  Christ,  in  the  ordinary  methods,  for  that  sym- 
bol has  reigned  for  fifteen  hundred  years  supreme  in  art, 
in  literature,  in  religion.  The  cross  has  twined  around 
it  every  association  of  dignity  and  beauty  in  the  world. 
Not  one  other  thing  has  received  from  the  fertile  minds 
and  the  all-fashioning  hands  of  men  of  genius  so  many 
extrinsic  beauties  as  the  cross  of  Christ.  Millions  never 
hear  of  it  without  a  throb,  nor  see  it  without  a  genuflec- 
tion. It  dawns  upon  the  child  in  the  cradle  next  to  its 
own  mother's  face,  and  it  is  the  last  thing  from  which 
the  light  disappears  when  this  child,  in  old  age,  is  dying. 
The>  cross  is  now  as  universal  and  as  beautiful  to  the 
associations  and  the  memories  of  men,  as  then  it  was  rare, 
peculiar,  and  odious ;  it  is  that  which  now  to  us  is  not 
only  suggestive  of  a  fact  in  Christ's  history,  but  it  is  also 
a  memorial  of  two  thousand  years  of  history.  Around  that 
simple  cross-wood  the  heart  of  the  world  has  gathered  for 
twenty  centuries  its  stores  of  admiration,  of  love,  of  devo- 
tion. But  none  of  this  was  then  known  when  the  apostle 
entered  upon  his  solitary  way.  It  was  then  the  very  sign 
and  symbol  of  ignominy.  It  was  as  far  toward  the  bot- 
tom of  disgrace  as  now  it  is  toward  the  top  of  honor.  It 
was  the  convict's  mark  then ;  it  was  the  slave's,  the  crim- 
inal's sign ;  it  was  a  hundred  times  more  odious  then  than 
*  See  1  Cor.  i.  17,  18. 


4  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

to  our  ears  is  the  word  "  gallows  "  now ;  but  that  word  is 
softening,  and  may  yet  become  agreeable  too,  when  it 
bears  a  little  more  of  right  fruit.  There  is  no  word 
among  us  that  is  significant  of  the  deep  and  acknowl- 
edged and  universal  detestation  that  belonged  to  the 
cross. 


WHEN  a  musician  is  called  to  perform  music  which  he 
has  composed,  before  a  great  congregation,  he  knows  that 
many  will  call  for  melodies,  for  ballads,  for  simple  airs, 
and  he  may  be  disposed  to  gratify  their  taste ;  but  if  he 
knows  that  in  the  congregation  there  is  one  Mozart,  or 
one  Beethoven,  who  is  able  to  follow  him  through  all  the 
intricacies  of  harmony,  as  he  rises  up  to  the  majesties  of 
sound  that  expresses  thought,  and  feeling,  and  imagina- 
tion, that  one  single  musician  will  inspire  him  and  re- 
ward him  more  than  the  thousands  of  those  who  know 
only  how  to  take  in  the  lowest  forms  of  his  exhibition. 

Now,  we  not  only  live  among  men,  but  there  are  airy 
hosts,  blessed  spectators,  sympathetic  lookers-on,  that  see 
and  know  and  appreciate  our  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
acts.  And  if  we  can  bring  ourselves  to  realize  this,  it 
will  lift  us  above  the  necessity  of  vulgar  praise,  and  above 
any  depression  that  we  may  feel  for  the  want  of  appreci- 
ation and  praise  from  men.  It  is  the  great  tribunal,  airy 
and  invisible,  before  whom  we  live  more  really  than  be- 
fore visible  and  fleshly  men.  "We  perceive,  then,  that  by 
and  by,  if  men  live  with  patient  continuance  in  well-doing, 
they  shall  have  honor  and  glory.  You  only  sow  the  seed 
here.  You  do  not  reap  the  remuneration  here  ;  but  you 
live  with,  and  toward,  and  among,  an  invisible  host  that 
understands  the  law  of  excellence  ;  that  understands  how 
much  more  valuable  are  the  higher  traits  and  magnanim- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  5 

ities  than  the  lower;  that  understands  how  much  more 
noble  and  admirable  are  the  things  which  the  soul  does 
than  the  things  that  the  mind  does,  and  how  much  more 
noble  and  admirable  are  the  things  which  the  mind  does 
than  the  things  which  the  body  does.  All,  therefore, 
which  is  hidden  in  obscurity  in  this  world,  is  reserved 
for  disclosure  in  the  world  to  come. 


THE  gravest  events  dawn  with  no  more  noise  than  the 
morning  star  makes  in  rising.  All  great  developments 
complete  themselves  in  the  world,  and  modestly  wait  in 
silence,  praising  themselves  never,  and  announcing  them- 
selves not  at  all.  "We  must  be  sensitive,  and  sensible,  if 
we  would  see  the  beginnings  and  endings  of  great  things. 
That  is  our  part. 

WHEN  Christ  was  teaching  men  what  was  the  highest 
conception  of  human  character,  what  did  He  say  ?  The 
serene,  large-browed  intellect,  —  the  deep,  calm,  untrou- 
bled oceanic  enthusiasm,  —  the  exquisite  sensitiveness  of 
taste  and  purity  combined,  —  that  large,  flexible  nature 
which  revolves  in  orbits  of  beauty,  and  stands  the  point 
of  admiration  to  all  round  about,  beautiful  and  harmless! 
Was  that  the  conception  of  character  ?  Such  is  the  notion 
we  have  of  beauty  and  genius.  These  are  the  men  that 
we  love  to  paint  to  ourselves,  —  men  that  do  no  harm,  to 
be  sure,  but  that  are  self-cultured,  and  work  off  every  part 
of  themselves  with  elaborate  workings,  and  make  them- 
selves, according  to  some  preconceived  model  of  human 
development,  symmetrical,  and  large,  and  manly,  and 
perfect,  and  stand  simply  in  that  self-poised  strength  and 
power  !  Does  Christ  say  that  is  the  idea  of  character  ? 
Not  at  all.  Self-seeking  and  self-building,  as  an  end, 


6  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

were  simply  hateful  to  God,  as  they  should  be  hateful  to 
men,  but  are  not.  What,  then,  was  Christ's  ideal  of 
manhood  ?  Weakness,  subtleness,  insignificance  of  char- 
acter ?  No,  no !  but  power  in  the  head,  and  power  in  the 
heart,  and  art  in  the  hand,  —  the  sovereignty  of  man  in 
every  single  one  of  his  faculties ;  but  the  whole  of  it 
taken  with  sweetest  humiliation  of  love,  and  carried  down 
into  the  lowest  place  and  meanest,  to  that  which  is  weak. 
It  is  strength  glorified  with  purity  and  beautified  with 
taste,  making  itself  a  servant,  as  Christ  is  said  to  have 
made  Himself  a  servant.  The  Divine  ideal  of  character 
is  that  it  is  a  power,  no  matter  how  resplendent,  how 
high,  so  that  it  is  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  those  who  are 
about  us ;  first  to  those  who  are  the  lowest  and  furthest  re- 
moved from  our  taste  and  sympathy.  The  man  you  hate 
is  the  man  you  ought  to  love  most,  that  is,  with  benefi- 
cence ;  the  man  that  shocks  every  taste  and  sentiment  is 
the  man  who  should  receive  the  contribution  of  your 
being,  —  that  is  the  man  into  whom  and  around  whom 
you  are  to  pour  yourself,  that  by  all  the  influences  in 
which  you  are  superior  to  him,  he  may  find  the  ocean 
tide  of  your  life  buoying  him  up  and  taking  him  from  out 
the  mud  and  sand  in  which  he  swelters,  and  giving  him 
at  last  launching  and  sea  room.  That  is  the  conception 
of  the  highest  character. 


IT  is  narrated  of  a  Moravian.  I  know  not  if  in  any 
other  name  of  Christians  could  be  found  an  instance  that 
can  parallel  this :  —  A  Moravian  Christian  heard  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  West  India  slaves,  and  desired  to  be  a 
missionary  to  them;*t)ut  when  he  reached  them,  he  found 
they  were  driven  to  the  field  so  early,  and  came  home  so 
late,  that  there  was  no  life  or  strength  in  them  to  listen 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  7 

to  his  instructions ;  neither  did  they  believe  that  any  man 
whose  face  was  white  had  a  heart  that  was  other  than 
black,  and  they  would  not  listen  to  him ;  and  he  found,  at 
last,  that  there  was  no  way  to  preach  to  them  unless  he 
preached  to  them  in  their  sufferings  while  he  suffered 
with  them  himself.  He  sold  himself,  and  was  driven 
afleld  with  them  himself,  that  while  he  suffered  and 
toiled  as  they  did,  he  might  have  opportunity  to  preach 
to  them  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  Now,  I  ask 
if  there  reigns  a  king  upon  his  throne  that  was  so  lordly, 
so  large  a  man  as  that  poor,  sweating  Moravian,  who,  for 
the  sake  of  serving  these  poor,  miserable,  dying  slaves  in 
the  field,  had  sold  himself  into  like  estate  to  preach  the 
riches  of  Christ.  The  largest  conception  of  manhood  is 
that  which  knows  how  to  .take  itself,  as  though  of  no 
consequence  to  itself,  but  of  all  possible  consequence  to 
those  to  whom  it  may  make  itself  an  offering,  a  pow- 
er, and  an  instruction. 


IT  is  said  that  no  one  can  at  first  take  in  the  scope  and 
magnitude  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  that  the  first  im- 
pression is  one  of  disappointment.  Our  senses  are  so 
unused  to  large  measurements,  that  they  do  not  take  the 
meaning  of  such  a  gigantic  cathedral  until  they  have  been 
practised  to  do  it.  It  is  only  when,  by  a  patient  waiting 
and  growing  familiarity,  our  senses  have  opened  and 
grown  to  a  nobler  use,  that  the  full  meaning  of  such  a 
massive  structure  begins  to  come  to  them.  Then  the 
immensity  of  the  space,  the  richness  of  the  parts,  the  uni- 
versality resulting  from  a  well  ordering  of  innumerable 
details,  begin  to  impress  the  mind ;  and  every  day  swells 
the  dome,  and  carries  forth  the  length  and  width  of  the 
interior,  and  harmonizes  the  multitudinous  details  until 


8  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

they  lose  their  separateness,  and  become  only  the  means 
and  instruments  of  a  wonderful  whole. 

As  you  recede  from  it,  miles  and  miles  across  the  Cam- 
pagna,  there  rises  high  into  the  air  that  sublime  circle ; 
and  when,  by  distance,  all  the  subjacent  parts  are  sunken 
and  lost,  that  magnificent  globe  hangs  upon  the  sky,  as  if, 
like  heavenly  spheres,  it  needed  no  foundation,  but  hung 
suspended  in  the  ether,  buoyed  up  as  ships  are  floated  iu 
the  seas. 

It  is  even  so  with  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  The 
close  of  the  eighth  chapter  is  the  dome  of  the  cathedral. 
It  is  only  one's  own  whole  life  that  can  interpret  it.  At 
the  first  reading  it  seems  confused.  A  certain  wonder 
and  wealth  of  meaning  is  apparent,  but  neither  order  nor 
harmony.  But  gradually  the  parts  seem  to  unite ;  the 
exceeding  richness  of  single  words  or  thoughts  goes  to 
compose  a  harmonious  whole.  And  the  closing  verses, 
rising  like  a  vast  dome,  lift  themselves  above  the  earth, 
above  the  stars,  and  into  that  sacred  space  where  heaven 
is  and  the  glory  of  God.  No  human  hand  hath  builded 
this.  These  glorious  thoughts  that  hang  above  the  world, 
glowing  with  radiant  colors,  came  from  no  mortal  genius. 
Not  he  who  filled  the  dome  of  St.  John  at  Parma  with 
the  wonderful  uprising  of  the  apostolic  and  angelic  host, 
accompanying  the  Virgin  to  her  coronation  —  Correggio, 
—  nor  that  greater  priest  and  king  of  art  that  filled  the 
air  of  the  Sistine  Chapel  with  the  sublime  congress  of 
prophets  and  sibyls  —  M.  Angelo,  —  reared  this  tower  of 
grandeur,  nor  filled  its  heavenly  summit  with  undying 
colors.  A  greater  Artist  —  the  Artist  of  artists,  —  the 
Father  of  beauty,  —  the  God  of  all  glory  —  hath  given 
these  immortal  scenes  to  the  world.  And  they  shall 
never  lose  their  color.  Age  shall  not  dim,  and  vapors 


ROYAL  TRUTHS:  9 

and  smoke  shall  not  blacken  them.  They  shall  be  fresh 
forever.  The  child  shall  see  them.  The  ignorant  shall 
behold  them.  Yea,  and  most  wonderful,  the  blind  shall 
see  them  by  an  inward  vision,  and  rejoice  in  their  celes- 
tial glory. 

IT  is  quite  in  vain  for  any  of  us  to  have  a  hope  in  God 
which  is  valid  only  in  the  fair  hour  of  prosperity  and  of 
health.  When  an  anchor  is  thrown  overboard,  if  it  floats 
in  the  stream  it  is  useless.  No  anchor  is  of  any  use  what- 
soever to  a  ship  that  cannot  by  its  cable  go  down  to  take 
hold  of  the  firm  bottom,  and  that,  taking  hold  of  it,  is  not 
able  to  keep  the  ship.  If  when  the  storm  beats,  if  when 
the  whole  concentrated  fury  of  the  storm  beats  on  the 
ship,  the  anchor  holds  it,  that  is  an  anchor  worth  having. 
"Woe  to  the  mariner  whose  anchor  breaks  in  the  time  of 
testing  !  •  If  you  have  a  hope  that  is  good  when  you  arc 
young,  when  you  are*prosperous,  and  when  you  are  hap- 
py, but  does  not  hold  you  when  you  are  sick,  when  you 
are  cast  out,  when  you  are  bereaved  and  discouraged, 
when  life  is  taken  away  from  you  —  if  you  have  no  hope 
that  holds  you  then,  you  have  got  nothing  at  all.  An 
anchor  that  not  only  deceives  men  with  the  appearance 
of  safety,  but  that  gives  way  in  the  hour  of  danger,  is 
worse  than  none  at  all  —  a  hope  that  holds  a  man  when 
he  does  not  need  holding,  but  breaks  when  he  does. 


WHAT  must  be  the  value  of  anything  desired,  when 
the  price  you  are  willing  to  pay  for  it  is  one  of  your  chil- 
dren ?  What  personal  pain  in  watching,  in  care,  in  pa- 
tience, are  not  parents  willing  to  undergo  for  the  sake  of 
their  childr.cn,  rather  than  that  those  children  shall  be 
given  up  to  any  trmable  ?  What  abundant  trouble  does 
1* 


10  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

the  eager  parent  take  upon  himself  to  shield  the  child  ? 
What  ease,  what  prospects  in  life,  has  the  parent  gladly 
given  up  for  the  sake  of  the  well-being  of  his  child? 
How  easily  would  one  sacrifice  his  property  —  the  whole 
of  it,  if  need  be  —  rather  than  that  his  beloved  child 
should  suffer !  Nay,  how  easy  it  is  for  love  to  die 
that  never  dies !  And  how  easy  would  it  be  for  many 
and  many  a  one  to  say,  as  David  said,  "Would  to 
God  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  ! " 
The  tenderness  of  the  record  may  be  rare,  but  the  ex- 
perience is  common.  When,  then,  an  emergency  comes 
in  which  a  parent  consents  to  give  up  even  a  child,  what 
an  unspeakable  testimony  is  that  to  the  strength  of  his 
feeling.  There  is  no  other  thing  in  human  life  that 
can  measure  feeling  like  such  an  instance  as  this. 

Now,  that  is  the  image  which  God  sends  to  kindle  in 
our  heart  and  imagination  some  faint  conception  of  what 
was  the  power,  the  depth,  the  omnipotence  of  His  feeling 
of  love  toward  the  whole  race  of  men.  Consider  what 
that  ocean  must  be  in  God,  where  such  a  feeling  exists 
of  desire  and  love  that  it  puts  into  a  subordinate  place 
His  love  for  His  own  darling  Son !  What  must  be  that 
emotion  which  rises  higher  than  our  love  for  our  own  off- 
spring !  And  transferring  that  idea  to  God,  considering 
what  is  the  might  and  majesty  of  every  feeling  in  God 
over  the  slender  experience  of  the  human  heart,  consider- 
ing what  is  the  wonder  of  increase  in  every  emotion  and 
every  function  in  God  when  compared  with  the  corre- 
sponding emotions  and  functions  in  us,  what  must  have 
been  the  length,  and  breadth,  and  height,  and  depth  of 
the  love  of  God  to  human  souls  !  This  is  that  which  the 
apostle  holds  up  before  us  in  the  passage,  "  He  that 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  H 

all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things?"  

I  THINK  that  men  look  upon  repentance  and  humilia-. 
tion  before  God  very  much  as  they  do  upon  a  voyage 
from  the  tropics  to  the  North  Pole.  Every  single  league, 
as  they  advance  toward  the  Arctic  region,  they  leave 
more  and  more  behind  them  greenness,  and  fruit,  and 
warmth,  and  civilization,  and  find  themselves  more  and 
more  in  the  midst  of  sterility,  barrenness,  ice,  and  barba- 
rism. I  think  that  men  repent  toward  the  frigid  zones. 
They  think  that  to  go  to  God  is  dreary  and  desolate  in 
the  extreme.  It  is  not !  The  sinner  is  an  Esquimaux ! 
He  lives  in  ice,  and  burrows  underground,  and  is  but 
little  better  than  a  beast !  But  if  by  any  means  he  be- 
comes fired  with  a  conception  of  a  better  clime,  and  leav- 
ing his  hibernating  quarters,  he  takes  the  ship  Repentance, 
and  sails  toward  the  torrid  zone,  at  every  league  he  is  sur- 
prised by  the  new  forms  of  vegetation  by  which  he  is 
surrounded.  He  has  seen  oak-trees  only  about  as  high 
as  his  knee.  Not  long  after  he  sets  out  on  his  voy- 
age, he  is  astonished  to  see  them  as  high  as  his  head. 
By  and  by,  as  he  draws,  near  the  tropics,  he  is  lost  in 
wonder  and  ecstasy  to  see  them  lifting  themselves  far 
above  him  in  the  air.  And  with  what  satisfaction  does 
he  compare  the  delightful  home  that  he  has  found,  with 
the  miserable  one  that  he  has  left  behind ! 


MEN  move  and  march,  and  we  must  keep  step,  and  for- 
ever move  and  march !  Wo  are  strangers  and  pilgrims. 
"We  are  not  settled.  "We  never  shall  be  in  this  world. 
Nothing  is  finished  here.  Every  step  is  a  preparation 
for  the  next.  That  is  a  preparation  for  the  next ;  and 


12  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

that  for  the  next.     The  whole  of  this  life  is  one  grand 
march  toward  life  indeed,  and  life  in  earnest ! 


CONSIDER  what  is  the  thought  of  Divine  parentage  ; 
consider  what  are  all  the  ways  by  which  God  has  sought 
to  impress  upon  the  human  race  the  fulness  of*  His  love. 
What  figure  is  there  that  bears  the  conception  of  a  pow- 
er, an  honor,  an  ease,  a  glory,  an  achievement,  a  victory, 
which  God  has  not  taken  and  set  in  the  sanctuary,"  to 
light  up  in  man's  mind  the  divinity  of  that  love  which  He 
manifested  by  the  gift  of  His  own  beloved  Son,  —  a  love 
which  is  more  than  motherhood,  or  fatherhood,  or  broth- 
erhood, or  sisterhood,  or  friendship,  or  love  of  lovers  ? 
Sitting  central  in  the  immensity  of  that  love,  He  says, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  It  is  the  invitation  of  infinite 
power  to  infinite-  weakness,  of  infinite  purity  to  infinite 
sinfulness,  of  infinite  riches  to  utter  and  abject  poverty. 
"  0  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself ;  but  in  me  is 
thine  help." 

WHEX  trees  grow  so- that  their  branches  are  mostly  on 
one  side,  we  never  restore  branches  to  the  deficient  side 
by  cutting  the  opposite  side.  We  cut  the  most  barren 
side,  and  there  nature,  in  seeking  to  restore  what  we  cut, 
drives  out  new  buds  and  branches.  So  the  gardener 
knows  that  where  he  puts  the  knife  there  will  follow 
the  fruit  of  the  tree.  And  blessed  are  they  whom  the 
heavenly  Husbandman  prunes,  that  they  may  bring  forth 
more  fruit,  if,  when  He  cuts,  there  is  a  bud  behind  the 
knife.  But  woe  to  them  who,  being  cut,  have  no  bud  to 
grow,  and  are  more  disbranched  and  barren  from  being 
pruned. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  13 

IT  is  not  that  the  force  of  our  love  to  God  is  so  great 
that  nothing  can  ever  root  it  up,  —  it  is  that  the  love  of 
God  to  us  is  so  great  that  none  of  these  things  will  ever 
move  that  procuring  cause  of  good  in  Him.  God  loves 
us  so  that  neither  law,  nor  power,  nor  earthly  experience, 
nor  heavenly  adjudications,  nor  any  human  witnesses,  nor 
any  accusing  spirits,  nor  anything,  shall  quench,  or  cause 
to  glow  with  one  diminished  ray,  the  intensity  of  His 
love.  None  of  these  things  shall  take  away  that  love 
which  led  Him  to  give  His  Son  to  die  for  us,  and  to 
raise  Him  up  to  be  our  everlasting  intercessor.  It  shall 
be  to  us  like  the  sun,  that  carries  never-ending  summer 
from  age  to  age. 


SOMETIMES  men,  with  slippery  logic,  say  that  God 
employs  wicked  men  for  the  furtherance  of  His  purposes, 
and  that  they  must  carry  on  the  great  ends  of  life,  —  that 
they  must  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  — 
while  good  men,  though  more  or  less  dependent  upon 
such  things,  are  not  themselves  to  be  concerned  in  them. 
Now,  no  man  ever  will  be  a  better  man  by  seclusion,  or 
a  worse  man  by  engaging  actively  and  enthusiastically  in 
the  right  things  of  human  life.  As  strangers  and  pil- 
grims would  pass  through  a  plague-district,  not  stopping, 
if  they  could  avoid  it,  but  hastening  on,  and  taking  care 
to  touch  no  infected  thing  ;  so  some  would  pass  through 
this  life.  But  no  man  is  appointed  to  pass  through  this 
life  as  if  it  were  plague-stricken  and  infectious.  And 
any  man  that  undertakes  to  go  through  the  world  acting 
on  the  principle  that  it  is  a  sin,  on  the  whole,  to  have 
much  to  do  with  the  secular  avocations  and  duties  of  life, 
not  only  will  have  infinite  troubles  and  inconsistencies  in 
his  own  conduct,  but  will  not  understand  the  first  letter 
of  the  spirit  of  enlightened  Christianity. 


14  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

WHEN  young  men  are  beginning  life,  the  most  impor- 
tant period  is  that,  it  is  said,  in  which  their  habits  are 
formed.  This  is  very  important ;  but  I  take  it  that  the 
period  in  which  a  young  man's  ideas  are  formed  and 
adopted  is  more  important  still.  For  the  ideal  which 
you  go  forth  to  measure  things  by  determines  the  nature, 
so  far  as  you  are  concerned,  of  everything  that  you  meet. 
If  a  man  goes  into  life  saying,  "  I  am  determined  that  I 
will  make  everything  bend  to  the  one  supreme  end  of 
getting  rich,"  he  has  the  golden  rule  by  which  to  measure 
everything.  One  man  says,  "I  am  determined  to  be 
heard  from.  I  will  live  to  make  myself  glorious."  Ap- 
probativeness,  or  self-esteem,  measures  all  things  in  his 
case.  Another  man  says,  "  Beauty  shall  be  the  chief 
element  of  my  earthly  enjoyment."  Taste  is  the  ideal 
by  which  he  measures  everything. 


No  man  who  regards  this  life  as  an  end  can  ever  be 
happy  in  it.  Men  were  made  to  be  happy.  Never  was 
a  musical-box  so  exquisitely  arranged  for  the  playing  of 
sweet  tunes,  as  the  human  organism  is  for  the  production 
of  the  music  of  happiness.  The  trouble  is,  we  wind  it  up 
the  wrong  way.  The  instrument  slides  out  of  measure, 
and  we  play  three  or  four  tunes  wrong,  and  mixed  to- 
gether. A  most  discordant  thing,  therefore,  is  man, 
although  exquisitely  organized  for  happiness.  We  are 
established  in  the  wrong  way.  We  have  been  learning 
how  to  use  many  things.  We  know  how  to  use  the  stars 
better ;  we  know  how  to  use  wood  and  iron  better ;  we 
know  how  to  use  wind  and  ste^am  better ;  we  know  how 
to  use  ten  thousand  things  better ;  but,  alas !  our  chief 
ignorance  is  in  that  which  concerns  ourselves. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  15 

AUSPICIOUS  is  the  day  in  which  a  child  is  made  to 
accept  the  truth  that  the  measures  of  character  and  con- 
duct are  supernal ;  that  justice,  love,  purity,  truth,  hope, 
and  all  the  other  elements  belonging  to  the  higher  sphere 
of  truths,  are  the  tests  by  which  he  is  to  go  through  life 
measuring  what  is  right  and  wrong,  high  and  low,  good 
and  bad,  desirable  and  undesirable.  For  if  a  child  is 
accustomed  to  measure  these  things  by  his  senses,  he  is 
all  his  life  long  vulgarizing  himself.  But  if  he  is  accus- 
tomed to  measure  them  on  the  spiritual  scale,  he  is  all  his 
life  long  tending .  to  free  himself  from  the  body,  and  to 
become  more  and  more  spiritual. 


A  MAN  may  be  outwardly  successful  all  his  life  long, 
and  die  hollow  and  worthless  as  a  puff-ball ;  and  a  man 
may  be  externally  defeated  all  his  life  long,  and  die  in 
the  royalty  of  a  kingdom  established  within  him.  That 
man  is  a  pauper  who  has  only  outward  success ;  and  that 
man  may  be  a  prince  who  dies  in  rags,  untended,  and 
unknown  in  his  physical  relations  to  this  world.  And 
we  ought  to  take  the  ideal  in  the  beginning  that  a  man's 
true  estate  of  power  and  riches  is  to  be  in  himself:  not 
in  his  dwelling ;  not  in  his  position ;  not  in  his  external 
relations,  but  in  his  own  essential  character.  That  is  the 
realm  in  which  a  man  must  live,  if  he  is  to  live  as  a 
Christian  man. 


THE  pit  that  is  deepest,  the  pit  that  is  most  unexplored 
and  most  unfathomable,  is  that  which  is  the  wonder  and 
glory  of  God's  thought  and  £and,  —  our  own  soul. 


I  CAN  prepare  ten  sermons  easier  than  I  can  make  one 
visit  to  a  person  in  distress.     Such  a  visit  of  one  hour  is 


16  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

more  exhaustive   than  the  uninterrupted   study   of  ten 
hoursv 

IT  requires  a  great  deal  of  the  spirit  of  the  cross  for  a 
man  to  suffer  for  himself;  but  the  evidence  of  the  extent 
to  which  the  nature  of  Christ  has  penetrated  into  your 
heart  is  to  be  measured  by  the  affluence  of  that  spirit  in 
you  which  makes  it  sweet  to  you  to  make  any  man  better 
by  diminishing  yourself  in  doing  it. 

I  do  not  know  where  to  look  for  such  a  man.  I  see 
him  in  Paul.  If  there  ever  was  a  man  who  almost  for- 
got his  own  personality,  and  thought  only  of  those  whom 
he  might  serve,  it  seems  to  me  to  have  been  Paul ;  but 
beside  him  I  ca.n  scarcely  find  another,  and  the  nearer 
home  I  get  the  more  rarely  I  find  them.  I  have  a  bright 
ideal  of  what  it  is  to  use  the  whole  of  my  life  and  powers 
for  other  men,  or  a  shaking  of  myself  out  of  myself ;  but 
that  cursed  individuality  still  brings  my  thoughts  and 
feelings  back  to  myself,  checks  my  enthusiasm,  and  I  can- 
not pour  out  my  life  like  a  libation  for  God.  That  I 
feel  in  myself,  and  I  therefore  interpret  it  in  you. 

How  different  a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  Christian  as  men  be- 
come Christians,  and  to  be  one  according  to  the  example 
of  Christ  and  the  spirit  of  the  apostle  Paul !  If  you  are 
to  become  such  a  one  as  Christ,  if  you  are  to  be  emptied 
of  yourself,  if  you  are  to  live  for  others,  I  ask  you,  will 
not  that  change  be  like  a  resurrection  from  the  dead? 
O,  look  how  selfish,  how  hard,  how  unfeeling,  life  is ! 
See  how  men  hate  one  another!  See  what  prejudices 
separate  them  !  See  what  ten  thousand  things  are 
thrown  in  the  way,  even  by  good  men,  making  the  wheels 
turn  slowly  and  hard !  See  what  attrition  there  is  !  See 
how  every  part  of  the  machinery  of  life  draws  hard  ! 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  17 

Now,  tell  me,  if  there  should  come  on  such  natures  the 
royalty  of  love, —  if  there  should  be  a  change  that  should 
make  men  love  as  easily  as  violets  smell  sweet, — if  there 
should  be  a  change  that  should  make  a  man's  heart  come 
out  as  odors  do,  furnishing  that  which  men  delight  in, 
but  not  diminishing  the  supply,  —  would  it  not  be  a 
change  just  as  great  as  to  make  a  man  all  over  again  ? 
And  if  that  is  so,  what  objection  have  you  to  saying  so 
that  they  are  born  again?  ,1  think  it  would  not  hurt 
some  men  to  be  born  twenty  times  more !  I  think  we  all 
need  to  be  born  again ;  that  there  is  a  continual  re-cre- 
ation and  re-creation  and  re-creation,  with  higher  con- 
ceptions and  purer  spiritual  realizations.  No  man  who 
looks  at  men  as  they  are,  and  holds  up  before  them  the 
bright  ideal  of  Christ's  character,  —  no  such  man  can  say, 
if  they  receive  such  a  symbol  as  that,  that  it  is  not  a  new 
creation. 


I  HAVE,  in  my  house,  a  little  sheet  of  paper  on  which 
there  is  a  faint,  pale,  and  not  particularly  skilful  repre- 
sentation of  a  hyacinth.  It  is  not  half  as  beautiful  as 
many  other  pictures  I  have,  but  I  regard  it  as  the  most 
exquisite  of  them  all.  My  mother  painted  it ;  and  I 
never  see  it  that  I  do  not  think  that  her  hand  rested  on 
it,  and  that  her  thought  was  concerned  in  its  execution. 

Now,  suppose  you  had  such  a  conception  of  God  that 
you  never  saw  a  flower,  a  tree,  a  cloud,  or  any  natural 
object,  that  you  did  not  instantly  think,  "  My  Father 
made  it,"  what  a  natural  world  would  this  become  to 
you !  How  beautiful  would  the  earth  seem  to  you ! 
And  how  would  you  find  that  nature  was  a  revelation 
of  God,  speaking  as  plainly  as  His  written  Word !  And 
if  you  are  alone,  in  solitude,  without  company,  desolate 

B 


18  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

in  your  circumstances,  it  is  because  you  have  not  that 
inner  sense  of  the  Divine  love  and  care  which  it  is  your 
privilege  to  have,  and  which  you  ought  to  have. 


THIS  is  an  age  in  which  we  are  all  run  mad  for  phi- 
lanthropy. Everybody  wants  to  be  a  philanthropist ;  and 
men  go  out  to  be  philanthropists.  So  when  a  man  goes 
down,  his  first  inquiry  is,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  " 

A  man  rises  and  is  vexed^  that  he  was  not  called  ear- 
lier, that  he  was  not  called  to  a  better  breakfast ;  that  his 
commands  are  not  obeyed  by  his  servant,  —  who  is  for- 
ever forgetting, —  and  starts  out  on  philanthropy  !  He 
goes  to  teach,  perhaps,  as  one  of  the  readiest  things  we 
know  of  in  our  time,  —  he  goes  to  teach  the  poor,  and 
supposes  there  will  be  a  suitable  conception  of  what  a 
condescension  it  is  in  him.  He  goes,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  Here,  boys,  am  I ;  and  I  have  come  clear  down  from 
that  altitude  in  which  I  live  ;  take  great  care  of  me,  and 
respect  and  revere  me,  for  I  have  come  to  teach  you." 
But  when  these  boys  cuff  each  other,  and  pull  each  oth- 
er's hair,  and  kick  him,  are  there  one  Sunday  and  away 
the  next,  and  swear,  and  lie,  and  steal,  and  pick  his  pock- 
ets while  he  is  instructing  them,  the  man  says,  "  This 
philanthropy  has  been  greatly  cried  up,  but  I  have  had 
enough  of  it.  The  human  race  is  '  totally  depraved,'  and 
I  will  let  them  go."  Here  was  a  man  who  went  down  to 
find  worshippers  ;  here  was  a  man  who  went  down  to  do 
good,  and  save  himself.  It  is  as  if  a  miser  should  go  out 
to  distribute  charity,  thinking  all  the  while  how  he  could 
do  it  without  losing  money !  And  here  are  men  who  go 
out  to  do  good,  all  the  time  counting  how  much  they  get, 
and  what  it  costs  them.  There  is  no  bounty  of  feeling, 
no  outpouring  of  nature,  no  regality  of  thought,  saying, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  19 

"How  can  I  give  my  being  to  make  other  beings  richer?" 
No  feeling  that  it  is  glorious  to  bear,  and  endure,  and 
suffer ;  and  when  you  come  to  bear,  and  endure,  and  suf- 
fer out  of  church,  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  doing 
it  in  church. 


I  NEVER  know  how  to  worship  until  I  know  how  to 
love ;  and  to  love  I  must  have  something  that  I  can  put 
my  arms  around,  —  something^that,  touching  my  heart, 
shall  leave  not  the  chill  of  ice,  but  the  warmth  of  summer. 
There  must  be  something  that  will  come  near  my  heart, 
—  something  that  I  can  love,  —  or  I  cannot  worship ; 
and  this  idea  of  a  central,  inflexible,  serene,  passionless 
God,  unmoved  and  unmoving,  that  sometimes  thunders, 
and  then,  under  certain  conditions,  loves  in  a  proper  man- 
ner,—  this  conception  of  the  Divine  nature  is  utterly 
freezing ;  it  sets  me  upon  the  Poles,  and  all  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  year  leave  me  but  ice  and  icebergs. 


You  never  know  how  much  one  loves  until  you  know 
how  much  he  is  willing  to  endure  and  suffer ;  and  it  is 
the  suffering  element  that  measures  love.  And  all  char- 
acters that  are  high  must,  of  necessity,  be  characters  that 
shall  be  willing,  patient,  and  strong  to  endure  for  others. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  pleasure  we  have  in  affection.  To 
be  able  to  have  bright  affections  playing  upon  you  and 
giving  great  joy  to  your  nature,  is  one  thing,  and  to  hold 
your  nature  in  the  willing  service  of  others,  is  another ; 
and  that  is  the  Divine  idea  of  manhood,  of  the  human 
character. 


A  GREAT  many  men  are  addicted  to  much  lugubrious 
soliloquizing  and  complaining    about   this   unsatisfying 


20  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

world ;  but  whether  it  is  satisfying  or  not  depends  upon 
what  men  try  to  satisfy  themselves  with.  If  a  man  were 
to  take  a  watch,  and  try  to  use  it  as  a  compass,  to  steer 
a  ship  by,  he  would  say,  "  How  unsatisfying  this  watch 
is ! "  Yes,  to  steer  a  ship  by,  but  not  to  tell  the  time  by. 
And  when  a  man  uses  this  world  for  things  that  it  was 
not  meant  to  be  used  for,  it  is  an  unsatisfying  world ; 
but  when  a  man  uses  it  for  the  things  that  it  was  meant 
to  be  used  for,  it  is  a  satisfying  world,  —  it  is  a  glorious 
world.  It  is  a  very  good  world  for  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  built ;  and  that  is  all  anything  is  good  for. 
A  watch  for  time  ;  a  compass  for  direction ;  a  plough 
for  turning  up  the  soil ;  a  ship  for  the  sea ;  a  house  for 
a  habitation  ;  an  ox  or  a  horse  for  labor ;  sheep  for  wool 
and  food ;  a  loom  for  one  thing ;  an  anvil  for  another ; 
silks  for  persons  ;  carpets  for  floors. 

When  you  look  at  the  globe,  society,  men's  occupa- 
tions, and  the  like,  in  this  large  view,  the  world  is  admi- 
rable. Its  very  rudeness,  its  hardness,  its  sufferings,  are 
also  a  part  of  the  primitive  design,  and  are  beneficial 
instrumentally.  Men  that  love  leisure  never  can  under- 
stand what  God  means,  who  loves  occupation.  Men  who 
put  their  supreme  idea  of  life  in  self-indulgence,  cannot 
understand  what  God  means,  who  makes  self-exertion,  in 
Himself,  in  angelic  powers,  in  all  His  creatures,  the  test 
of  real  being.  If  men  are  seeking  to  be  supine,  to  have 
infinite  enjoyment  without  earning  it,  and  God  is  deter- 
mined they  shall  be  stirred  up  by  storms  of  hope  and  fear, 
pain  and  ease,  in  order  that  they  may  grow  and  develop, 
of  course  they  cannot  understand  Hun  or  His  adminis- 
tration. The  prizes  in  this  world  are  placed  where  those 
men  shall  get  them  who,  by  development,  by  opening  and 
educating  their  powers,  seek  them. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  21 

A  MAN  may  go  as  straight  from  the  shop,  or  deck,  to 
heaven,  as  if  he  kept  weary  watch  in  a  cloister,  or  had 
shivered  himself  to  death  in  a  cave.  It  is  a  man  dying 
with  his  harness  on  that  angels  love  to  take.  I  hope 
those  old  water-logged  saints  that  died  soaking  in  damp 
stone  cells  were  taken  to  heaven.  They  had  hell  enough 
on  earth,  and  it  would  be  a  pity  for  them  to  have  a  con- 
tinuation of  it  in  the  other  world  ;  but  I  think  they  were 
the  poorest  of  all  human  commodities  ever  taken  in! 

When  God  wanted  sponges  and  oysters,  He  made 
them,  and  put  one  on  a  rock,  and  the  other  in  the  mud. 
When  He  made  man,  He  did  not  make  him  to  be  a 
sponge  or  an  oyster ;  He  made  him  with  feet,  and  hands, 
and  head,  and  heart,  and  vital  blood,  and  a  place  to  use 
them,  and  said  to  him,  "  Go,  work !  "  And  the  man  that 
does  not  go  and  work  is  not  a  man  in  the  end  ;  while  the 
man  that  puts  the  vigor  and  enthusiasm  which  God  in- 
spires into  the  life  that  now  is,  becomes  a  man  indeed. 


THE  Apostle  is  setting  up  a  peerage  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  He  collects  from 
the  past  the  memorable  names  of  Jewish  worthies,  and 
gives  them  the  glory  of  the  great  title,  Faith.  The  high- 
est Order  that  was  ever  instituted  on  the  earth,  is  the  Or- 
der of  Faith.  This  chapter  is  the  portrait-gallery  of  the 
Book  ;  and  from  it  look  down  upon  us  the  memorable 
names  of  remote  antiquity. 


IT  is  not  the  first  part  of  the  voyage,  but  the  last  part, 
that  tells  whether  it  is  a  successful  voyage  or  not.  The 
ship  De  Witt  Clinton  lies  on  the  coast  just  below  here, 
disabled.  The  prosperity  of  twenty-six  days  she  lost 
on  the  twenty-seventh,  when  coming  into  the  harbor. 


22  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

However  prosperous  your  life  may  be  here,  if  you  stick 
on  the  shore,  and  do  not  come  in  on  the  other  life,  you 
are  a  wreck !  You  must  take  care  of  the  last  part  of  the 
voyage,  or  you  take  care  of  nothing  at  all ! 


EVERY  man  is  born  with  aspiration.  It  does  not  de- 
velop in  every  man.  Neither  do  half  the  buds  in  trees 
blossom.  But  they  are  there.  And  there  is  aspiration 
in  every  man,  whether  you  suspect  it  or  not,  and  though 
it  may  not  blossom.  Aspiration  means  tendril,  twining, 
or  anything  else  by  which  one  vines  upward,  holding  on 
by  the  way  to  whatever  will  support  him.  Some  plants 
take  hold  by  winding  around,  some  by  little  roots,  some 
by  tendrils,  some  by  hooks,  and  some  by  leaves  that  catch 
like  anchors.  But  these  things  take  hold  not  for  the  sake 
of  staying  where  they  take  hold,  but  only  that  they  may 
climb  higher.  And  so  it  is  with  men.  We  clasp  things 
above  us  by  every  part  of  our  nature,  one  after  another, 
not  for  the  sake  of  remaining  where  we  take  hold,  but 
that  we  may  go  higher.  In  other  words,  when  in  the 
ordinary  experience  of  life  we  gain  satisfaction,  we  do  it 
almost  only  by  feeding  on  each  other.  When  we  attain 
development,  we  do  that  in  the  same  way.  The  soul 
feeds  on  soul,  whether  for  satisfaction  or  development. 


WHEN  I  ask  men  to  come  and  talk  with  me  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  and  tell  them  that  whether  they  do  or 
not  may  decide  their  destiny,  they  sometimes  wag  their 
head,  and  say,  "  Do  you  suppose  God  governs  the  world 
upon  such  a  mean  and  narrow  plan  that  a  man's  destiny 
depends  upon  whether  he  does  or  does  not  go  and  talk 
with  another  man  ?  "  I  know  that  when  a  train  is  going 
at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour,  it  depends  upon  whcth- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  23 

er  the  switch  is  one  tenth-part  of  an  inch  one  way  or  an- 
other, whether  the  passengers  are  swept  into  destruction, 
or  run  along  smoothly,  without  knowing  that  they  are  in 
danger.  It  is  at  these  critical  points  that  small  things 
become  omnipotent.  "When  you  have  put  on  one  side  of 
a  scale  one  hundred  pounds,  and  on  the  other  ninety- 
nine  pounds  and  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  a  pound,  one 
hundredth  of  a  pound  is  of  as  much  importance  as  all  the 
rest  of  the  weight.  It  is  when  you  come  to  these  points, 
where  but  the  least  things  are  required  to  turn  the  scale, 
that  such  things  become  momentous. 


I  THINK  that  when  Christ  said,  "The  last  shall  be 
first,"  He  thought  of  those  persons,  of  whom  there  are 
many,  that  are  never  known  outside  of  their  own  neigh- 
borhood, or  their  own  home  ;  who  bear  sickness  in  soli- 
tude ;  who  are  weary  with  care  from  one  year's  end  to 
another ;  whose  life  is  one  continued  series  of  disappoint- 
ments ;  who  have  not  one  single  external  exponent  of 
what  is  called  success ;  but  who  have  wrought  mightily 
within  their  children,  and  made  them  witnesses  before 
God  with  such  faith,  and  hope,  and  purity,  and  exhilarat- 
ing patience,  that  as  He  looks  on  them,  He  sees  that 
their  hearts  are  more  bright  than  the  stars  themselves. 
And  at  the  resurrection  they  shall  be  first,  inasmuch  as 
they  are  last  here.  They  shall  be  kings  and  priests. 
When  we  get  to  heaven  we  shall  not  know  those  that  are 
first.  They  will  be  persons  that  here  were  hidden  ones, 
but  that  carried  themselves  with  supreme  fidelity  toward 
God. 


THE  moment  a  man  has  the  vast  sweep  of  the  eternal 
world  for  his  depository,  how  will  his  troubles  be  allevi- 


24  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ated  or  destroyed,  by  his  looking  at  every  part  of  his  life 
as  relative  to  that ! 

Suppose  I  am  disappointed !  My  first  feeling  is  one  of 
annoyance,  perhaps ;  but  my  second  feeling  is,  "  Why,  He 
that  makes  the  ground  fertile  by  frosts,  is  making  my  life 
fertile  by  disappointments.  He  sends  them  upon  me  that 
I  may  be  broken  up,  disintegrated,  comminuted,  rendered 
pulverulent,  and  thus  be  in  a  state  to  promote  better 
growths."  "When  a  man  finds  that  he  is  tasked  enor- 
mously with  the  cares  of  life,  God  sends  some  angel  to 
whisper  to  him,  "  This  is  the  way  you  are  to  be  made 
strong  and  noble."  Even  the  beggar  finds  comfort  in  this 
voice  of  encouragement,  and  says,  "  I  thought  it  was  a 
beggar's  pack  that  I  was  struggling  under,  but  God  tells 
me  it  is  armor ;  and  I  am  strong  enough  to  carry  it." 
Let  us  apply  this  interpretation  to  our  burdens,  that  it 
may  change  their  nature,  and  make  them  easy  for  us  to 
bear. 


Do  you  remember  what,  in  His  last  interview  with 
His  disciples,  in  that  prolonged  love-feast  which  preceded 
His  crucifixion, — do  you  remember  what,  when  the  cloud 
was  on  Him,  when  that  time  which  had  been  deferred, 
and  of  which  He  said  again  and  again,  "  It  is  not  yet," 
at  last  cajne,  and  the  great  eclipse  began  to  show  itself, 
and  the  shadow  was  falling,  and  He  was  uttering  His  last 
words  to  them,  and  preparing  them  with  all  zeal  to  be 
scattered  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  —  do  you  remem- 
ber what  in  that  hour  was  the  state  of  the  mind  of  Christ  ? 
He  says,  "  My  peace  I  give  unto  you."  In  that  hour  of 
tempest,  and  darkness,  and  coming  anguish,  while  there 
was  agitation  everywhere  else,  in  the  heart  of  Christ 
there  was  peace,  —  peace  enough  not  only  for  His  own 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  25 

wants,  but  for  the  wants  of  His  dear  disciples.  And 
when  you  think  of  Christ  as  a  man  of  sorrows  and  ac- 
quainted with  grief,  think  also  that  He  gave  an  exempli- 
fication of  the  power  of  the  soul  to  overcome  these  things. 
When  you  forget  to  eat  or  drink  because  you  are  so  busy ; 
when  your  child  is  sick,  and  you  forget  to  take  your  ac- 
customed food;  when  public  affairs  are  at  a  high  key, 
and  you  are  enthusiastically  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  you  forget  to  give  the  body  its 
proper  nourishment,  and  wonder  what  ails  you,  and  think, 
"Why,  for  twenty-four  hours  I  have  scarcely  tasted  food," 
remember  that  our  Saviour  was  so  absorbed  in  the  follow- 
ing out  of  the  great  cause  of  God  in  this  world,  that  He 
forgot  to  be  hungry,  that  He  forgot  to  be  tired,  and  that 
He  forgot  to  sleep. 

THE  family,  —  the  school,  —  the  church,  —  regulated 
and  virtuous  civil  society, —  wholesome  and  normal  oc- 
cupation, which  increases  physical  comforts,  —  all  these 
make  the  number  of  children  reared  to  high  moral  char- 
acter greater,  and  the  training  of  such  children  easier. 
Therefore,  the  very  way  to  train  our  children  for  heaven 
is  to  surround  them  by  such  conditions  of  human  society 
as  will  have  a  powerful,  though  indirect,  influence  upon 
their  moral  amelioration  and  upbuilding.  I  would  rather 
undertake  to  bring  up  my  child  to  virtue  and  morality 
and  piety  in  the  city,  bad  as  it  is,  than  on  the  desert  of 
Sahara,  or  on  a  flat  rock  where  there  was  nothing  but 
him,  me,  and  the  rock.  You  could  bring  up  a  toadstool 
there,  but  not  a  man.  A  man  must  have  something  to 
feed  on,  something  to  think  about,  something  to  wake  him 
up,  something  to  inspire  him.  What  kind  of  a  battle 
could  a  man  fight  alone?  A  man  to  fight,  and  to  be 
2 


26  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

a  victorious,  courageous  man,  must  have  something  to 
fieht. 


I  WOULD  not,  for  all  the  world,  be  made  so  of  stone 
that  I  could  not  weep  with  those  that  weep,  and  that  I 
could  not  sympathize  with  those  who  feel  that  war  is  a 
dreadful  calamity,  and  that  war  among  brethren  is  an 
awful  thing.  I  know  it  is.  I  have  probed  it  for  years 
in  imagination.  It  has  been  like  a  cloud  of  darkness 
before  my  mind.  For  twenty  years  God's  messengers 
have  been  telling  us  that  this  thing  would  come  *  if  evils 
that  were  tending  toward  it  were  not  put  down.  And 
when  we  have  been  disposed  to  hold  back  our  hand  from 
duty,  and  to  compromise  with  wrong,  they  have  said  that 
the  mischief  must  inevitably  roll  on  and  over,  collecting 
strength  as  it  rolled,  till  it  should  end  in  gulfs  of  distress 
and  abysses  of  misery.  We  would  not  heed  their  warn- 
ing ;  we  chose  to  take  the  way  of  present  peace,  rather 
than  listen  to  and  act  upon  their  prophecies.  And  now 
that  the  results  which  they  predicted  have  come,  let  us 
not  make  the  mistake  again  of  measuring  by  the  way  we 
feel.  If  we  love  our  children  more  than  the  cause  of 
God,  we  are  not  worthy  to  follow  Christ.  If  we  love 
an  ignoble  living  more  than  a  glorious  living,  we  are  not 
worthy  to  follow  Christ.  If  we  look  upon  the  face  of 
war  and  see  nothing  but  its  physical  terrors,  if  we  do 
not  look  through  that  and  see  what  is  the  moral  reason, 
and  what  are  the  moral  triumph  and  the  moral  glory  of 
the  whole  cause,  we  are  not  worthy  to  follow  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 


IT  is  how  much  of  the  invisible  we  can  bring  into  this 
*  The  rebellion  in  the  Southern  States. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  27 

life  that  makes  this  life  rich  and  valuable.  I  will  tell 
you  a  secret  of  gardening.  Turnips,  and  other  crops  that 
have  long  roots,  and  depend  mostly  for  their  nourishment 
on  the  soil,  exhaust  the  soil ;  while  those  crops  that  have 
broad  leaves,  and  take  the  greater  portion  of  their  nour- 
ishment from  the  air,  organizing  it,  and  turning  it  into 
the  soil,  enrich  the  soil.  Now,  let  me  tell  you  that  that 
which  makes  this  life  rich  is  that  broad-leaved  experience 
which  derives  its  support  from  the  air  of  the  future  world. 
And  the  man  that  is  most  impalpable  and  invisible  in  this 
life  has  most  of  this  life  itself. 


THERE  is  a  sense  in  which  a  man,  looking  on  the  pres- 
ent in  the  light  of  the  future,  and  taking  his  whole  being 
into  the  account,  may  be  contented  with  his  lot ;  that  is 
Christian  contentment.  What  philosophers  want  is  that 
a  man  shall  be  contented  in  just  the  state  he  is  in.  But 
I  tell  you,  if  a  man  has  come  to  that  point  where  he  is 
content,  he  ought  to  be  put  into  his  coffin  ;  for  a  content- 
ed live  man  is  a  sham !  If  a  man  has  come  to  that  state 
in  which  he  says,  "  I  do  not  want  to  know  any  more,  or 
do  any  more,  or  be  any  more,"  he  is  in  a  state  in  which 
he  ought  to  be  changed  into  a  mummy !  Of  all  hideous 
things  mummies  are  the  most  hideous  ;  and  of  mummies, 
those  are  the  most  hideous  that  are  running  about  the 
streets  and  talking  !  I  would  rather  see  the  old  Egypt- 
ian cerements  than  those  men  that  are  content  with  what 
they  are,  and  do  not  want  to  be  any  more. 


THE  world  is  a  grindstone,  and  races  are  axes  which 
are  to  get  their  cutting  edges  by  being  ground  on  it ! 
The  very  object  for  which  God  thinks  it  worth  while  to 
turn  and  roll  this  round  globe  is  that,  by  its  very  attrition 


28  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  working,  men  may  be  made  men  in  every  sense  of 
the  term. 

GOD  puts  the  oak  in  the  forest,  and  the  pine  on  its 
sand  or  rock,  and  says  to  men,  "  There  are  your  houses  : 
go  hew,.saw,  frame,  build,  make."  God  builds  trees :  men 
must  build  the  house.  God  supplies  timber :  men  must 
construct  the  ship.  God  buries  iron  :  men  must  dig  for 
it,  and  smelt  it,  and  fashion  it.  What  is  useful  for  the 
body,  and,  still  more,  what  is  useful  for  the  mind,  is  to  be 
had  only  by  exertion, —  exertion  that  will  work  man 
more  than  iron  is  wrought,  that  will  shape  man  more  than 
timber  is  shaped.  Clay  and  rock  are  given  us :  not  brick 
and  squared  stone.  God  gives  us  no  raiment :  he  gives  us 
flax  and  sheep.  If  we  would  have  coats  on  our  backs, 
we  must  take  them  off  our  flocks,  and  spin  them  and 
weave  them.  If  we  would  have  anything  of  benefit,  we 
must  earn  it,  and,  earning  it,  must  become  shrewd,  inven- 
tive, ingenious,  active,  enterprising. 


THE  doubts  and  fears  which  prevail  in  Christian  minds 
—  whether  their  sins,  their  infirmities,  and  their  foibles 
do  not  exhaust  God's  patience  —  are  utterly  unreason- 
able the  moment  we  look  at  God. 

A  child  has  his  little  box  that  he  keeps  his  money  in. 
He  has  kept  it  unbroken  —  marvel  of  a  child  that  he 
is  —  for  a  whole  year !  From  time  to  time  he  drops  in . 
rattling  pennies  and  halfpennies,  —  contribution  coin,  — 
until  by  and  by  he  has  a  conception  that  he  must  have  a 
great  treasure ;  and,  unsealing  it  and  counting  it,  he  finds 
that  he  has  really  a  whole  pound !  And  now  he  begins 
to  have  some  thought  of  what  he  shall  do  with  this  treas- 
ure. He  at  first  thinks  he  will  buy  a  library  with  it ; 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  29 

but  before  he  knows  it  he  has  run  over  in  his  mind 
enough  books  to  come  to  ten  pounds.  Then  he  thinks 
he  will  lay  it  out  for  playthings ;  but,  oh,  at  every  step 
he  finds  that  the  thing  he  would  buy  greatly  outmeasures 
his  means ;  until  at  last  he  feels,  "  I  can  buy  nothing  ;  I 
have  only  a  pound,  and  that  will  pay  for  none  of  the 
things  that  I  desire."  But  the  child's  father  is  a  million- 
naire,  and  owns  houses,  and  lands,  and  ships,  and  banks ; 
he  is  wretchedly  rich  !  and  the  child  knows  it.  Instead, 
then,  of  saying,  "  What  can  I  do  with  my  pound  ? "  he 
might  well  say,  "  What  need  I  that  I  may  not  have  in 
my  father's  wealth  ?  What  need  I,  of  food,  or  raiment, 
or  books,  or  proper  pleasure,  that  it  is  not  over  and  over 
again  in  the  power  of  my  father  to  give  me  ?  " 

Now,  that  poor  little  child's  pound  and  his  want  bear 
about  the  same  relation  to  his  father's  wealth,  that  our 
power  and  our  want  bear  to  the  glory  and  richness  of 
God's  power.  What  is  a  man's  power  ?  He  has  power  to 
resolve.  And  what  is  the  power  of  resolution  ?  It  is  the 
power  of  a  bubble  which  reflects  for  one  instant  the  glory 
of  heaven,  and  then  is  broken  and  gone.  Our  resolutions 
are  good  for  a  second,  and  then  they  are  forgotten.  What 
are  men's  throes  and  struggles  against  inward  passions 
and  outward  temptations  ?  They  are  as  nothing.  We  are 
swept  before  the  evil  influences  which  come  upon  us  in 
this  world,  as  chaff  before  the  summer's  storm.  We  are 
routed  and  driven  as  miserable,  cowardly  militia  before 
courageous  soldiers. 

THE  prouder  a  man  is,  the  more  he  thinks  he  deserves ; 
and  the  more  he  thinks  he  deserves,  the  less  he  really 
does  deserve.  A  proud  man,  —  the  whole  world  is  not 
big  enough  to  serve  him.  The  little  he  gets  he  looks 


30  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

upon  with  contempt  because  it  is  little.  The  much  that 
he  does  not  get  he  regards  as  evidence  of  the  marvellous 
inequality  of  things  in  human  life.  He  walks  a  perpet- 
ual self-adulator,  expecting  until  'experience  has  taught 
him  not  to  expect ;  and  then  he  goes  forever  murmuring 
at  what  he  looks  upon  as  partiality  in  God'3  dealings  with 
men.  Such  men  are  like  old  hulks  that  make  no  voyages, 
and  leak  at  every  seam.  They  are  diseased  with  pride. 
They  have  the  craving  appetite  of  dyspepsia  in  their  dis- 
position. 

THERE  are  emergencies  of  religious  experience  in 
which  the  soul  can  do  nothing  but  simply  abandon  itself, 
and  lay  hold  on  God.  I  suppose  that  every  person  who 
has  a  work  of  grace  that  is  deeply  rooted  in  him,  remem- 
bers days  and  hours  at  some  periods  of  life  (they  are  more 
marked  than  at  others)  in  which  there  is  nothing  that 
it  can  rest  upon.  There  is  just  this  one  thing,  —  helpless- 
ness the  most  utter  hanging  upon  the  neck  of  strength 
the  most  august,  —  a  sense  of  the  most  profound  un- 
worthiness  standing  before  the  most  profound  worth 
and  purity  and  excellence.  As  the  stars  that  rise  in  the 
morning  over  against  the  light,  never  rise  so  brightly  nor 
last  so  long  as  the  stars  of  the  evening  that  rise  from 
darkness,  and  that  grow  bright  by  darkness,  so  out  of  our 
spiritual  experiences,  though  there  rise  up  bright  concep- 
tions of  God,  there  are  none  that  compare  for  one  single 
moment  with  those  thoughts  of  God  when  the  soul  feels 
prostrate  in  the  dust  with  its  own  sinfulness.  There  is 
majesty  in  the  thought  of  mercy,  and  wonder  in  the  gra- 
ciousness  of  God,  when  we  feel  that  we  are  sinful.  In 
these  wonderful  hours,  when,  touched  of  the  Divine  finger, 
we  are  pervaded  with  a  sense  of  our  unworthiness,  there 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  31 

is  but  one  thing  for  us  to  do,  to  hope  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
hope  simply,  or  else  despair.  Not  that  you  understand 
how  He  atones  and  pardons ;  not  that  you  can  see  what 
is  the  relation  of  Christ  to  you.  There  is  no  philosophy 
about  it;  there  is  nothing  but  this  simple  instinct  of  hope; 
we  clasp,  we  hold  on  to  Christ,  and  say,  "  Thou  art  my 
anchor ;  Thou  art  my  safeguard  and  my  surety."  It  is  a 
feeling,  and  not  a  thought. 


MEN  conclude  that  one  universal  and  absolute  will 
must,  of  course,  bar  the  freedom  of  all  others.  That  de- 
pends not  so  much  upon  the  fact  of  the  supremacy,  as 
upon  the  mind.  "What  God's  will  is,  has  much  to  do  with 
what  is  the  freedom  or  the  servitude  of  man's  will.  For 
if  our  freedom  is  a  part  of  our  nature  and  heritage ;  if  it 
is  that  for  which  God  thought  it  worth  while  to  make  man ; 
if  it  is  that  that  gives  value  to  man,  being  made;  if  it  is 
that  through  which  God  means  to  illustrate  His  own  glory 
in  ages  yet  to  come ;  if  it  is  that  that  separates  between 
man  and  the  lower  creations  of  God  in  this  world ;  then 
it  is  that  part  of  us  which  is  immutable,  and  the  Divine 
will  will  insure,  and  not  subvert,  the  liberty  of  ours. 
God  made  us  to  be  free,  that  in  a  lower  sphere,  we  might 
be  like  Himself. 


AFTER  that  hoary  old  despot,  Ahab,  had  revelled  in 
iniquity  knee-deep,  —  yes,  from  his  loins  to  his  neck  ; 
after  he  had  slain  the  prophets  and  ramped  up  and  down 
like  the  devil,  and  walked  about  like  a  lion,  one  poor 
starveling  prophet  came  to  him,  when  he  says  to  him, 
"  Ah !  art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel  ?  "  This  man 
had  carried  devastation  and  revolution  through  the  land, 
and  destroyed  its  faithful  prophets,  and  the  moment  he 


32  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

comes  in  sight  of  a  surviving  one  he  says,  "  Ah !  you 
are  troubling  Israel ! "  It  is  the  same  game  over  and 
over.  For  the  nature  of  despotism  is  the  same  every- 
where, in  every  age,  and  under  all  circumstances ;  and 
what  you  read  in  the  Book  you  can  read  on  the  planta- 
tion, in  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  in  the  speeches  and 
conduct  of  men  in  your  own  day. 


THE  public  sentiment  of  a  community,  instead  of  being 
adverse  to  truth  and  right,  is  mighty  in  helping  men  to 
do  difficult  things.  There  are  periods  of  the  world  when 
heroic  traits  are  almost  drugs.  There  are  times  when 
the  whole  public  mind  is  inspired  in  certain  directions. 
There  are  periods  when  men  die  easy,  and  hundreds  and 
thousands  cast  away  their  lives  almost  at  the  beck  of  one 
man,  who  is  leading  them  on  to  great  deeds.  There  are 
times  when  generosity  and  disinterested  benevolence  are 
abundant,  and  it  seems  as  though  there  were  a  mania 
among  men  to  do  noble  things.  Such  periods  show  the 
power  of  public  sentiment ;  and  it  also  shows  how  impor- 
tant it  is  to  bring  as  many  great  truths  and  principles  as 
possible  within  the  approval  of  public  sentiment,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  easily  adopted  and  acted  upon  by  men. 
If  you  create  a  moral  public  sentiment,  then  you  have  a 
power  by  which  to  enforce  moral  lessons.  There  is  a 
despotic  element  in  public  sentiment,  which  consists  in 
the  overaction  of  power.  Everywhere  power  is  prima- 
rily despotic,  and  therefore  it  is  so  in  public  sentiment. 


HERE  is  a  man  that  stands  very  high,  and  is  much 
praised.  He  knows,  that  if  he  makes  his  mark  in  the 
community  men  will  praise  him  ;  and  he  takes  care  to  do 
it,  and  he  is  praised  accordingly.  He  builds  him  a  fine 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  33 

dwelling,  and  he  is  praised  for  that;  he  lays  him  out  mag- 
nificent grounds,  and  he  is  praised  'for  that ;  he  exerts  a 
great  power,  and  though  it  be  an  unregulated  and  immor- 
al power,  he  is  praised  for  that ;  he  surrounds  himself 
with  wealth,  and  all  the  various  other  things  that  are 
most  esteemed  in  this  world,  and  men  point  him  out,  and 
nudge  each  other,  and  say,  "There  is  the  most  prosper- 
ous man  in  the  whole  town."  He  is  a  walking  poor- 
house  ;  he  is  a  walking  hospital ;  he  is  a  walking 
lazar-house ;  he  is  rotten  in  conscience,  and  foul  in 
passion ;  he  lives  for  brick  and  mortar,  and  that  which 
they  contain  ;  he  lives  for  the  lowest  forms  of  power,  and 
all  of  them  run  centrewise,  for  his  heart  is  like  a  tunnel, 
flaring  out  toward  this  world,  and  growing  small  toward 
the  other,  and  ingurgitating,  ingurgitating,  all  his  life 
long.  Men  say  that  he  is  prosperous ;  but  bones,  flesh, 
and  skin  are  all  there  is  of  him.  His  conscience  is  dead; 
his  taste  has  never  been  developed ;  all  his  sweeter  affec- 
tions are  overlaid  and  cast  down.  As  statues  and  pictures 
in  overwhelmed  cities  of  the  Orient  have  for  a  thou- 
sand years  lain  covered  with  the  soil,  so  the  aspirations 
that  early  manifested  themselves  in  many  a  man  have 
long  been  covered  by  the  soil  of  business  and  pleasure. 
Men  say  he  is  prosperous,  and  they  pass  by  his  grounds 
with  a  certain  sense  of  awe.  To  them  there  is  a  kind  of 
mysterious  grandeur  about  his  house  ;  and  they  know  not 
but  he  is  wellnigh  omnipotent.  He  is  called  the  first. 

By  and  by,  when  he  goes  to  judgment,  he  will  carry 
up  everything  that  belongs  to  his  spiritual  excellence, 
and  leave  here  everything  that  belongs  to  his  temporal 
excellence.  He  will  leave  here  his  grounds ;  his  house, 
its  furniture,  and  pictures,  and  books  ;  his  stable  and 
horses ;  his  body,  its  passions,  and  tastes ;  all  earthly 
2*  o 


34  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

lore,  everything  tnat  belongs  to  the  flesh.  He  will  carry 
with  him  nothing  but  his  generosity,  —  and  you  could 
take  that  on  the  point  of  a  needle ;  his  faith,  —  and  there 
is  but  a  speck  of  that ;  and  all  the  heroic  elements  of  his 
nature,  —  and  there  is  not  so  much  as  a  pinch  of  them. 


A  MAN  that  puts  himself  on  the  ground  of  moral  prin- 
ciple, if  the  whole  world  be  against  him,  is  mightier  than 
all  of  them ;  for  the  orb  of  time  becomes  such  a  man's 
shield,  and  every  step,  every  year,  brings  him  nearer  to 
the  hand  of  Omnipotence.  If  a  man  takes  ground  for 
truth,  and  justice,  and  rectitude,  and  piety,  and  fights 
well,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  result.  I  would 
that  I  could  inspire  any  man  to  do  right  with  courage, 
therefore,  by  making  him  feel  that  right  is  itself  a  host. 
Never  be  afraid  of  being  in  minorities,  so  that  minorities 
are  based  upon  principles. 


WE  are  far  down  in  the  years  of  time,  when  God 
works  revolutions  against  appetite,  and  lust,  and  avarice, 
against  power  without  love,  against  every  mere  material 
interest  of  men,  without  the  employment  of  physical 
force.  And  when  euch  a  revolution  as  this  takes  place, 
and  that  by  mere  mind-power,  it  is  time  to  begin  to  look, 
not  for  the  star,  but  for  sunrise.  We  are  near  to  it. 


IT  is  defeat  that  turns  bone  to  flint ;  it  is  defeat  that 
turns  gristle  to  muscle  ;  it  is  defeat  that  makes  men  in- 
vincible ;  it  is  defeat  that  has  made  those  heroic  natures 
that  are  now  in  the  ascendency,  and  that  has  given  the 
sweet  law  of  liberty  for  the  bitter  law  of  oppression.  Do 
not,  therefore,  be  afraid  of  defeat.  You  are  never  so  near 
victory  as  when  you  are  defeated  in  a  good  cause.  For 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  35 

then  they  had  Christ  when  they  kissed  Him ;  but  that 
kiss,  so  foul  on  Judas's  lips,  on  the  face  of  Christ  shone 
like  a  jewel.  Yes,  then  they  had  Him,  when  they  hauled 
Him  before  the  Sanhedrim  midnight ;  but  it  was  like 
a  triumphal  march.  Then,  when  they  led  Him  toward 
Calvary,  they  had  Him.  And  then,  when  to  the  music 
of  hammers  they  lifted  Him  up,  and  He  hung  suspended 
and  groaning,  and  with  implorations  of  unutterable  agony 
died,  and  the  heavens  were  dark,  their  victory  was  accom- 
plished, and  so  was  their  everlasting  defeat ;  for  not  till 
He  died  could  He  live,  or  we  in  Him.  It  was  slaying 
Him  that  gave  Him  power.  And  so-  of  everything  that 
has  the  nature  of  Christ  in  it, — every  truth,  every  cause, 
every  sanctity,  every  noble  tiling.  Slay  it  if  you  can, 
and,  like  the  gashes  of  Milton's  angels,  its  wounds  will 
close  by  the  healing,  heavenly  virtues  of  its  own  nature, 
and  it  will  stand  forth  with  even  greater  power  than 
before. 


THERE  are  many  patriarchs  of  the  pool.  Have  you 
never  seen  these  patriarchal  croakers,  of  a  summer  even- 
ing, on  the  borders  of  some  inland  lake?  Have  you 
never  heard  their  croakings  all  through  the  night  ? 
There  is  many  and  many  a  man  who  sits  squat  on  the 
edge  of  his  party  pool,  croaking  —  croaking  —  croaking  ; 
and  you  would  think,  if  you  did  not  know  what  the  sound 
was,  that  all  the  spirits  of  the  lower  regions,  weird  and 
mischievous,  were  in  the  air.  And  yet,  when  you  go  and 
explore,  what  is  the  noise  ?  It  is  a  frog !  —  nothing 
more! 


WHEN  you  are  in  a  cause,  see  if,  when  you  sound  it,  it 
touches  the  bottom,  —  God  Almighty  ;  and  if  you  find  a 


36  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

truth  as  everlasting  as  God,  stand  by  it,  talk  of  it ;  and 
if  men  would  muzzle  you,  talk  on.  Talk  living,  and  die 
talking ;  and  make  other  men  talk.  There  is  no  harm 
that  can  come  from  talking  of  things  that  ought  not  to  be 
harmed.  The  only  risk  is  in  reticence,  —  in  guilty  si- 
lence. 


COULD  you  not  point  out  some  in  your  church  that  are 
forever  under  a  cloud  because  they  are  not  appreciated, 
—  because  their  worth  is  not  understood,  —  because  their 
value-  has  never  been  justly  estimated,  —  because,  being 
weighed  in  the  great  scale  of  society,  they  are  always  too 
light?  You  may  be  sure  that  nature,  and  society,  and 
universal  experience,  do  not  lie  about  these  men.  Where 
is  their  labor  ?  Where  is  the  exponent  of  their  industry  ? 
Where  is  their  bountiful  beneficence  ?  What  tears  have 
they  wiped  away  ?  What  houses  have  they  builded  for 
the  poor?  What  contribution  have  they  made  to  the 
public  weal  ?  What  noble  example  have  they  set  before 
the  world  ?  What  explorations  have  they  made  upon  the 
sea  or  upon  the  land?  What  useful  thing  have  they 
invented?  Where  are  the  evidences  of  their  desert? 
They  are  barren  and  granited  from  head  to  foot,  so  that 
even  moss  will  not  grow  on  them. 


A  MAN  should  be  lenient  with  everybody  but  himself. 
A  man  should  be  rigid  with  himself,  and  nobody  else. 
Let  a  man  say  in  the  beginning  of  his  life,  "  My  life  de- 
pends upon  me."  There  is  a  divine,  overruling  Provi- 
dence, but  it  is  a  Providence  which  favors  those  that 
favor  themselves  by  taxation,  responsibility,  care,  wise 
exertion. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  37 

THE  relation  of  health  to  a  man's  disposition,  and  so 
to  his  capacity *of  conferring  and  receiving  happiness,  is 
worthy  of  serious  study.  The  happiness  of  our  life  does 
not  consist  in  a  few  great  sources.  It  springs  from  in- 
numerable minute  and  constantly-recurring  causes  ;  and, 
more  than  from  all  other  things  together,  it  springs  from 
the  disposition  of  men  among  themselves,  and  toward 
each  other.  The  morbid  states  of  health,  the  irritable- 
ness  of  disposition  arising  from  unstrung  nerves,  the  im- 
patience, the  crossness,  the  fault-finding  of  men,  who,  full 
of  morbid  influences,  are  unhappy  themselves,  and  throw 
the  cloud  of  their  troubles  like  a  dark  shadow  upon  oth- 
ers, teach  us  what  eminent  duty  there  is  in  health. 


GOD  made  the  human  body,  and  it  is  by  far  the  most 
exquisite  and  wonderful  organization  which  has  come  to 
us  from  the  Divine  hand.  It  is  a  study  for  one's  whole 
life.  If  an  undevout  astronomer  is  mad,  an  undevout 
physiologist  is  yet  madder.  The  stomach,  that  prepares 
the  body's  support ;  the  vessels,  that  distribute  the  sup- 
ply ;  the  arteries,  that  take  up  the  food,  and  send  it 
round ;  the  lungs,  that  aerate  the  all-nourishing  blood ; 
that  muscle-engine  which,  without  fireman  or  engineer, 
stands  night  and  day  pumping  and  driving  a  wholesome 
stream  with  vital  irrigation  through  all  the  system ;  the 
nervous  system,  that  unites  and  harmonizes  the  whole 
band  of  organs ;  the  brain,  that  dwells  in  the  dome  high 
above  all,  like  a  true  royalty ;  —  these,  with  their  various 
and  wonderful  functions,  are  not  to  be  lightly  spoken  of, 
or  irreverently  held. 

LET  me  say  to  every  one  that  is  beginning  life,  Do  not 
begin  with  exaggerated  ideas  of  your  own  worth.  Do 


38  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

not  feel  that  you  without  battle  ought  to  be  a  victor,  and 
walk  from  the  beginning  with  those  laurels  about  your 
head  which  are  to  be  twined  there,  if  at  all,  only  at  the 
end  of  the  campaign.  Do  not  mistake  your  own  turbu- 
lent pride.  Do  not  mistake  your  own  false-interpreting, 
lying  vanity.  Do  not  begin  your  life  feeling  that  such  a 
fine  fellow  as  you  are,  —  one  so  spruce,  so  handsome,  so 
well-descended,  so  accomplished  in  various  ways,  —  de- 
serves a  high  place.  Do  not  flatter  yourself  that  life  owes 
you  any  more  than  it  owes  anybody  else.  It  owes  you,  in 
common  with  all  others,  just  as  much  as,  climbing,  you 
can  bring  down.  It  owes  you  a  chance  to  be  something. 
It  will  give  you  that,  and  nothing  more.  It  is  better  for 
every  man  to  begin  with  this  understanding :  —  I  have  a 
chance  to  carve  out  my  own  way.  That  is  all  I  want. 
Having  that  I  will  take  the  consequences. 


EXTERNALLY  it  might  be  difficult  to  judge  between  two 
men  equally  prosperous,  and  living  surrounded  by  refine- 
ments and  wealth,  one  of  whom  held  this  world  first  and 
predominant,  and  the  other  of  whom  held  it  second  and 
subordinate.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man's  using  the 
things  of  this  world  consciously,  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  for 
moral  instrumentalities :  there  is  such  a  thing,  though 
nineteen  out  of  twenty  may  not  do  it  that  pretend  to. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man's  being  a  monarch,  and 
yet  being  a  democrat,  —  not  in  a  base  sense  of  that  term, 
but  in  a  high,  Christian  sense  of  it.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  man's  being  an  emperor,  and  sitting  sole  judge  among 
men,  and  yet  wishing  to  be  the  lowest  and  least  among 
them,  so  far  as  selfish  aggrandizement  is  concerned.  And 
though  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  monarchs  are 
self-seeking,  where  there  arc  examples  like  David,  like 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  39 

Alfred,  and  like  the  reigning  sovereign  of  England,  the 
fact  that  so  many  counterfeits  have  existed  is  no  ground 
for  the  presumption  that  they  are  not  what  they  seem  to 
be.  And  where  you  see  professors  of  religion  that  gather 
their  wealth  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  that  pile  up 
the  pyramid  of  their  joys  mountain  high,  that  crown  their 
days  with  ten  thousand  luxuries,  though  you  show  that 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of  them  are  miserable 
self-seekers,  and  gild  these  things  with  the  pretence  of 
holding  them  for  good,  that  is  not  ground  for  the  presump- 
tion that  the  other  hundredth,  being  called  to  be  rich,  and 
learned,  and  refined,  and  lovers  and  accumulators  of  art, 
have  not  taken  their  possessions  and  consecrated  them  to 
the  service  of  their  fellow-men.  How  many  men  have 
consecrated  their  learning,  their  power,  their  outward 
prosperity,  all  redolent  and  perfumed  with  the  spirit  of 
pure  love,  to  the  good  of  their  fellow-men.  And  what  if 
there  are  multitudes  that  pretend  to  do  the  same  thing 
who  are  selfish,  grasping,  worldly  men,  that  does  not  alter 
the  fact  that  there  are  these  men  who,  having  a  great  deal 
of  this  world,  hold  it  subject  to  God's  requisitions,  and 
administer  it  according  to  the  highest  intents  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Do  not  suppose  that  your  life  is  to  be  in  external  good 
alone.  When  God  pays  you,  he  pays  you  not  altogether 
in  bills,  or  silver,  or  gold;  but  partly  in  bills,  partly  in 
silver,  partly  in  gold ;  that  is,  He  pays  you  hi  external 
good ;  He  pays  you  in  joys  and  comforts  ;  He  pays  you 
in  social  virtues,  and  sweet  content  therein ;  He  pays  you 
in  the  solace  of  noble  thoughts ;  He  pays  you  in  the  re- 
muneration of  a  manly  conscience  ;  He  pays  you  in  hope 
and  good  cheer ;  He  pays  you  in  promises  that  all  your 


40  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

orders  shall  be  cashed  when  they  are  presented  In  the  ex- 
chequer above.  The  life  that  now  is,  is  but  little  com- 
pared with  the  life  that  is  to  come.  The  things  that  are 
in  a  man  are  better  than  all  the  robes  that  can  be  put 
upon  him.  The  paying  of  the  future  world  will  far  tran- 
scend the  paying  of  this  world.  Eternity  will  be  the  end 
of  the  paying,  and  with  it  will  come  a  full  fruition. 


THERE  is  many  and  many  a  man  that,  by  the  help  of 
the  Bible  and  the  saddle,  has  gone  to  heaven  with  com- 
parative ease,  who  would  not  have  gone  there  very  easily 
by  the  help  of  either  alone. 


I  DREAD  nothing  more  than  to  hear  young  men  saying, 
"  I  am  going  to  the  city."  If  they  ask  me,  as  they  often 
do  when  I  am  travelling  about  the  country,  what  chances 
there  are  for  a  lawyer  in  the  city,  I  say,  "  Just  the  chance 
that  a  fly  has  on  a  spider's  web ;  go  down  and  be  eaten 
up  !  "  If  they  ask  me  what  chances  there  are  for  a  me- 
chanic in  the  city,  I  say,  "  Good !  good !  there  Death 
carries  on  a  wholesale  and  retail  business !  The  me- 
chanic art  flourishes  finely  !  Coffin-making  is  admira- 
ble !  Men  are  dying  ten  times  as  fast  as  anywhere 
else ! "  If  a  man's  bones  are  made  of  flint,  if  his  muscles 
are  made  of  leather ;  if  he  can  work  sixteen  or  eighteen 
hours  a  day  and  not  wink,  and  then  sleep  scarcely  wink- 
ing, —  if,  in  other  words,  he  is  built  for  mere  toughness, 
then  he  can  go  into  the  city,  and  go  through  the  ordeal 
which  business  men  and  professional  men  are  obliged  to 
go  through  who  succeed.  The  conditions  of  city  life  may 
be  made  healthy,  so  far  as  the  physical  constitution  is 
concerned ;  but  there  is  connected  with  the  business  of 
the  city  so  much  competition,  so  much  rivalry,  so  much 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  41 

necessity  for  industry,  that  I  think  it  is  a  perpetual, 
chronic,  wholesale  violation  of  natural  law.  There  are 
ten  men  that  can  succeed  in  the  country,  where  there  is 
one  that  can  succeed  in  the  city. 


IN  my  own  experience,  the  cases  that  I  have  most 
despaired  of  among  those  who  have  come  to  me  for  spirit- 
ual help,  have  been  persons  that  were  nervinely  sick.  I 
could  do  them  no  good,  because  I  could  not  reach  the 
conditions  of  their  body.  If  a  person  will  drink  green 
tea,  which  is  like  the  quintessence  of  a  thousand  needle- 
points in  its  effects  on  a  man's  nerves,  what  is  the  use  of 
his  coming  to  me  with  complaints  about  blue  devils  ? 
They  are  not  blue  devils ;  they  are  green  devils !  If  a 
man  gorges  and  oppresses  his  stomach,  and  so  overlays 
the  keys  of  life,  —  for  the  keys  of  life  are  located  in  the 
stomach,  as  the  keys  .of  the  piano  and  the  organ  are  lo- 
cated in  their  appropriate  places  in  those  instruments, — 
and  he  comes  to  me  for  deliverance  from  temptations,  or 
for  the  removal  of  obscurities  that  stand  between  his  soul 
and  God,  unless  I  can  have  control  of  that  man's  habits 
of  eating,  what  can  I  do  for  him  ? 


MERCHANTS,  business  men,  lawyers,  ministers,  all  sorts 
of  toiling  and  laboring  men,  have,  in  the  first  place,  too 
little  relaxation.  We  are  like  a  violin,  going  from  one 
concert  to  another,  all  day  long,  without  once  being  un- 
strung. We  are  forever  at  concert  pitch.  It  is  a  fact 
growing  out  of  city  life,  that  the  intensity  of  our  business 
takes  away  our  relaxation  and  enjoyment.  It  takes  the 
health  out  of  the  little  relaxation  and  enjoyment  which 
we  have.  Our  very  amusements  are  grim.  Men  go  to 
amusements  on  purpose ;  and  it  is  only  another  way  of 


42  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

seeking  business.  They  mechanically  and  consciously 
amuse  themselves,  instead  of  falling  into  amusement  nat- 
urally and  without  thought.  Laughing,  singing,  cheer, 
buoyancy, — these,  and  the  various  other  means  by  which 
men  rest  themselves  without  volition,  are  almost  unknown 
to  us.  We  are  a  world  too  sober.  We  are  a  world  too 
unlaughing.  We  do  not  romp  enough  with  our  children. 
We  are  not  children  enough  ourselves. 


I  THINK  you  might  dispense  with  half  your  doctors,  if 
you  would  only  consult  Doctor  Sun  more,  and  be  more 
under  the  treatment  of  these  great  hydropathic  doctors, 
the  clouds ! 


THERE  are  a  great  many  men  that  do  not  count  that 
worth  anything  in  this  world  which  has  not  its  representa- 
tive in  some  physical  good.  They  go  through  the  rooms 
of  a  library,  and  say,  "  What  value  is  there  in  all  these 
books  ?  You  cannot  eat  them,  nor  drink  them,  nor  wear 
them,  nor  sleep  on  them,  and  therefore  they  are  of  no 
use."  There'  are  persons  that  look  upon  the  forms  of  civ- 
ilization, and  say  to  themselves,  "Of  what  conceivable 
benefit  can  these  fantastic  and  expensive  things  be  ? " 
There  are  men  who,  if  you  take  them  into  your  flower- 
garden,  will  say,  "  Eh  !  auriculas,  you  call  them  ?  Cin- 
erarias, are  they  ?  What  do  you  do  with  them  ?  Are 
they  good  for  greens?  Do  you  buy  them  and  eat  them?" 
"  No."  "  Do  you  sell  them  for  flowers  and  get  money 
for  them  ?  "  "  No."  "  Then  what  do  you  do  with  them  ?  " 
"  I  look  at  them."  "  Look  at  them  !  And  is  that  all 
they  are  good  for,  —  to  be  looked  at  ?  I  think  if  I  was 
in  your  place  I  would  spend  my  time  in  something  besides 
raising  flowers  just  to  look  at !  "  If  they  would  feed  the 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  43 

mouth  or  fill  the  pocket,  they  would  tempt  such  men. 
If,  together  with  their  elements  of  taste  and  beauty,  they 
were  of  some  practical  benefit,  they  would  value  them  as 
worth  something.  But  since  they  do  not  minister  to  the 
gross  senses  in  any  way,  they  look  upon  them  as  value- 
less. External  good  is  the  only  rule  that  they  measure 
by.  The  fact  that  these  things  give  comfort  to  the  affec- 
tions, feed  the  imagination,  inspire  the  better  feelings, 
and  fill  the  higher  ranges  of  a  man's  life,  is  nothing  to 
them,  for  they  are  accustomed  to  measure  everything  by 
how  it  tastes,  or  how  it  feels  in  the  pocket. 


THERE  are  two  ways  in  which  religion  works ;  the 
vertical  way,  and  the  horizontal  way.  First,  we  are  to 
carry  out  religion  as  tidings  of  good  to  all  the  world. 
Then,  in  all  the  world,  we  are  to  intensify  it,  and  carry 
its  control  more  and  more  into  every  living  relation  of 
society.  And  our  work  is  not  done  until  the  world  is 
Christ's.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  that  we  take  care  of 
our  own  children  :  our  neighbor's  children,  also,  are  ours, 
in  some  sense.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  take  care  of  our 
own  neighborhood :  all  that  are  confederated  in  church 
connection  with  us  have  a  claim  upon  our  interest,  and 
we  have  reciprocal  duties  toward  them.  Nor  is  it  enough 
that  our  own  church  are  objects  of  interest  and  duty  to 
us :  the  town  or  city,  the  county  that  holds  the  town  or 
city,  the  nation  that  encloses  the  county,  —  all  these, 
also,  belong  to  us.  There  is  a  brotherhood  that  carries 
us  out  to  every  human  being.  Nor  are  they  alone  ours 
that  belong  to  our  nation :  all  that  belong  to  every  na- 
tion on  the  globe,  —  they  are  ours.  Though  they  may 
not  know  us,  and  though  we  may  not  be  able  even  to 
pronounce  the  name  by  which  they  are  known,  to  them 


44  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

belongs  the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  they  are  to  re- 
ceive it  at  our  hands.  We  are  bound  to  take  care  of  the 
world.  We  are  bound  to  include  in  our  desires,  plans, 
aims,  and  Christian  ambitions,  all  that  God  thinks  of 
when  He  looks  down  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 


I  PUT  you  on  your  guard  against  the  scepticism  of  our 
time.  And  do  you  think  that  I  am  about  to  enlarge  upon 
the  scepticism  of  Rousseau,  of  Diderot,  of  Voltaire,  of 
Bolingbroke,  of  Hobbes,  and  of  Hume,  —  that  was  swept 
away  with  their  ashes,  and  is  buried  ?  The  great  scepti- 
cisms of  our  time  are,  — >  market  scepticism,  political  scep- 
ticism, and  religious  scepticism.  Men  who  feel  that  it 
would  be  wicked  to  sacrifice  great  pecuniary  interests  for 
the  sake  of  principle ;  men  who  think  it  would  be  a 
tempting  of  Providence  to  refuse  profitable  business  spec- 
ulations, to  leave  profitable  situations,  or  to  refuse  divi- 
dends of  evil ;  men  whose  consciences  will  not  permit 
them,  as  the  members  of  a  corporation,  to  expose  its  wick- 
edness ;  men  who  stand  in  the  market  and  feel  that  they 
have  a  right  to  do  anything  that  wins,  —  these  men  are 
infidels.  You  need  not  tell  me  that  they  believe  in  the 
Bible  ;  they  believe  in  the  Bible  just  as  I  believe  in  birds' 
nests  in  winter,  —  nests  that  have  no  birds  in  them.  They 
believe  in  an  empty  Bible,  —  a  Bible  of  the  letter,  and 
not  a  Bible  of  the  spirit,  which  says  to  a  man,  "  Sacrifice 
your  right  hand  before  you  do  your  integrity." 


WHEN  even  the  old  colored  woman  Katy,  who  earned 
her  own  livelihood ;  who  sold  cakes  from  day  to  day  ; 
who  in  her  lifetime  took  forty  children  out  of  the  poor- 
house,  and  taught  them  trades,  and  bound  them  out  in 
places  of  prosperity  ;  who  took  no  airs  upon  herself;  who 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  45 

lived  on  the  abundance  of  her  poverty,  —  when  she  died 
out  of  her  sphere  nobody  thought  to  ask,  "  What  has  be- 
come of  her?"  She  was  buried,  perhaps,  so  obscurely, 
that  no  person  could  say,  "  I  am  sure  here  is  where  her 
old  rattle-bones  lie."  But  there  went  up  heavenward  a 
radiant  procession,  amidst  an  outburst  of  song,  heralding 
the  approach  o'f  some  bold  conqueror,  crownless  and  scep- 
treless.  It  was  the  resurrected  spirit  of  this  servant  of 
God.  She  lived  at  the  bottom  here,  but  there  she  lives 
in  eternal  fame.  At  last  she  broke  into  her  crown  of 
light,  and  ascended  her  throne,  and  took  her  sceptre. 

Thou  that  art  doing  noble  things  and  asking  no  praise  ; 
thou  that  art  living  to  do  good  because  it  is  sweet  to  do 
good,  and  be  like  Christ,  and  bear  His  cross,  and  walk 
with  Him  in  sorrow,  go  up,  thy  Christ  waits  for  thee. 
And  come  down,  thou  hoary-head  of  power  that  on  earth 
art  despoiling  God's  fair  creation  as  food  for  thy  lowest ' 
appetites,  and  living  in  selfishness  for  thyself  alone ;  there 
is  no  road  between  thee  and  God  that  does  not  break 
short  on  the  gulf  between  earth  and  heaven.  The  last 
shall  be  first,  and  the  first  shall  be  last. 

Seek  for  glory,  but  be  careful  what  kind  of  glory  you 
seek.  Work  for  fame,  but  look  out  that  you  work  for  the 
fame  that  addresses  itself  to  the  top  of  the  brain,  instead 
of  that  which  addresses  itself  to  the  bottom. 


SUPPOSE  I  should  urge  a  man  to  live  an  honest  life,  and 
he  should  say,  "  I  am  going  to  set  apart  from  my  daily  du- 
ties an  hour  in  which  to  be  honest."  Many  persons  think 
of  piety  in  the  same  way  that  we  might  suppose  such  a 
man  would  think  of  honesty.  They  regard  it  as  some- 
thing separated  from  ordinary  life,  and  to  be  attended  to 
at  intervals.  They  have  an  idea  that  it  is  something 


46  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

which  is  lived  particularly  in  the  closet.  Now  it  is  prop- 
er that  there  should  be  special  hours  set  apart  for  devo- 
tion ;  but,  after  all,  a  life  of  piety,  like  a  life  of  patriotism, 
or  a  life  of  honesty,  is  connected  with,  and  a  part  of,  com- 
mon life. 


I  NEVER  pass  a  man  that  is  unshapen,  I  never  pass  a 
man  that  is  infirm,  I  never  pass  a  man  to  whom  the  body 
is  literally  a  burden,  that  I  do  not  think  within  myself, 
"  How  sweet  dying  must  be  to  such  a  one !  How  gladly 
must  a  man  lay  aside  such  a  bondage  of  trouble  !  "  Mean- 
while, if  it  answers  the  end  that  God  meant  it  should,  if 
by  its  pain  and  circumspection,  by  its  very  hindrances,  it 
works  in  us  patience,  and  relinquishment  of  vain  things, 
and  a  seeking  of  noble  ones,  the  most  dwarfed  body  serves 
a  better  purpose  than  the  most  comely  one. 


I  BELIEVE  in  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  three  distinct  Persons ;  but  I  believe  that  above  our 
knowledge  there  is  a  point  of  coincidence  and  unity  be- 
tween them.  What  it  is  I  do  not  know.  That  is  the  un- 
revealed  part.  The  revealed  part  is  that  the  Divine  na- 
ture stands  forth  to  us  as  separate,  individual  Father,  — 
separate,  individual  Son,  —  and  separate,  individual  Spir- 
it ;  and  that  in  the  vast  recess  of  the  being  of  God,  which 
transcends  our  knowledge,  there  is  a  coming  together  of 
the  three. 


YE  are  the  light  of  the  world.  We  are  the  examples, 
the  leaders,  the  models,  the  ideals  of  the  world.  In  other 
words,  those  things  that  men  have  been  accustomed  to  say 
do  not  belong  to  the  church,  are  the  very  things  that  do 
belong  to  it.  I  hold  that  the  stigma  which  is  thrown  up- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  47 

on  churches  and  Christians  of  advocating  ism?,  of  being 
ismatical,  although  it  is  meant  to  pierce,  is  a  part  of  that 
crown  of  thorns  which  it  is  their  glory  to  wear.  And  that 
church  which  is  never  stigmatized  as  having  an  ism,  is  by 
the  mind  of  God  stigmatized  as  coming  short  of  its  duty, 
and  failing  to  be,  as  it  was  meant  to  be,  the  light  of  the 
world.  For  the  business  of  the  church  is  not  to  represent 
the  average  advancement  of  the  community,  but  to  discern 
clearer  light,  and  higher  ideals,  anij  nobler  things,  and  to 
insist  upon  lifting  up  human  conduct  in  the  individual, 
and  in  carrying  the  community  up  along  the  line  of  ad- 
mirableness,  and  toward  more  glorious  achievements. 
And  a  church  that  is  alive,  a  church  that  has  a  teaching 
communicancy,  a  church  whose  members  are  aspiring  to 
nobler  conduct,  will  be  a  disturbing  church ;  it  will  be 
continually  espousing  unpopular  causes ;  it  will  be  all  the 
time  going  aside  from  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  it  will 
be  forever  agitating  the  elements  of  society ;  it  will  be  al- 
ways unsettling  men,  and  will  never  give  them  any  rest. 
We  are  to  have  no  rest  till  we  take  it  in  heaven.  God 
meant  that  there  should  be  no  rest  in  this  world,  except 
so  far  as  contentment,  as  against  envy,  and  jealousy,  and 
fretting,  and  dissension,  may  be  called  rest.  Aspiration 
is  to  be  the  trait  of  every  Christian  body ;  and  the  func- 
tion of  every  church  of  Christ  is  to  stimulate  those  in  the 
community  in  which  they  dwell,  so  that  there  shall  be  a 
holy  ambition  burning  for  higher  things,  nobler  develop- 
ments, and  a  purer  life.  Everywhere  it  is  the  business 
of  the  Christian  Church  to  search  the  Word  of  God ;  and, 
by  prayer  and  the  interpretations  of  Divine  truth,  find  out 
things  admirable  and  glorious ;  and  then  bear  witness,  by 
precept  and  example,  in  respect  to  those  things,  that  life 
may  be  augmenting,  and  that  the  world  may  be  growing 


48  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

toward  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  perfect 
things  in  Christ  Jesus. 


OBEDIENCE  never  brings  a  man  nearer  to  a  law.  Obe- 
dience will  bring  a  man  nearer  to  a  rule,  but  obedience 
will  not  bring  a  man  nearer  to  his  ideal  law.  That  goes 
on.  It  never  is  so  small  as  when  he  touches  it  with  per- 
fect obedience.  It  opens ;  it  effulges ;  it  hangs  higher 
and  higher,  brighter  .and  brighter,  in  the  heavens,  and 
the  further  he  travels  toward  it,  the  further  he  is  from 
it.  The  indispensable  condition  of  our  growth  and  devel- 
opment, therefore,  is  that  by  advancing  toward  our  ideals 
in  attempting  to  fulfil  them,  we  thrust  them  further  from 
us. 


THE  imagination — the  divinest  of  mental  faculties  — 
is  God's  self  in  the  soul.  All  our  other  faculties  seem 
to-  me  to  have  the  brown  touch  of  earth  on  them  ;  but 
this  one  carries  the  very  livery  of  heaven.  It  is  God's 
most  supernal  faculty,  interpreting  to  us  the  difference 
between  the  material  and  the  immaterial,  and  the  differ- 
ence between  the  visible  and  the  invisible ;  teaching  us 
how  to  take  material  and  visible  things  and  carry  them 
up  into  the  realm  of  the  invisible  and  the  immaterial,  and 
how  to  bring  down  immaterial  and  invisible  things,  and 
embody  them  in  visible  and  material  symbols  ;  —  and  so, 
being  God's  messenger  and  prophet,  standing  between 
our  soul  and  God's. 


"LET  us,  therefore,"  —  on  account  of  these  two  things; 
first,  God's  sympathy ;  and  second,  God's  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  all  our  wickedness,  —  "  come  boldly  to  the  throne 
of  grace,"  —  and  why  ?  —  "  that  we  may  obtain  mercy, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  49 

and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need."  "We  go  not  to 
exonerate  ourselves,  not  to  plead  our  righteousness ;  we 
go  boldly,  saying,  "  Thou  knowest  that  I  am  sinful ;  but 
Thou  sentest  Thy  Son  to  atone  for  sins ;  I  am  sick,  but 
Thou  hast  the  medicine  for  souls  that  are  sick ;  I  am 
wicked,  but  Thou  art  He  that  delightest  to  forgive  wick- 
edness." We  are  to  go  boldly  to  God's  throne,  because 
He  is  so  full  of  mercies  for  our  want ;  so  full  of  goodness 
for  our  wickedness  ;  so  full  of  forgiveness  for  our  sins. 
And  God's  knowledge  of  what  w"e  are,  and  all  we  do, 
instead  of  being  an  argument  for  fear,  is  an  argument  for 
confidence. 


WHEN  a  child  has  been  away  all  day  long,  playing 
truant,  and  the  afternoon  comes,  and  with  it  hunger  and 
the  necessity  of  shelter,  he  must  go  home ;  and  he  goes 
towards  his  father's  house,  thinking  to  himself  what  plau- 
sible lie  to  tell,  —  how  he  can  make  tattered  truth  seem 
like  an  unrent  garment.  And  so,  with  an  ill-feigned  ap- 
pearance of  innocence,  and  perhaps  with  a  forced  smile  on 
his  face,  he  enters  the  door,  trying  to  look  as  if  he  were 
not  a  guilty  child.  He  runs  with  alacrity  to  perform 
every  errand  imposed  upon  him.  His  conduct,  however, 
is  suspicious  ;  for  he  is  too  good  for  an  innocent  child. 
He  thinks  nothing  is  known  of  his  disobedience.  But 
while  he  sits  with  the  family  at  tea,  the  burden  on  his 
mind  grows  heavier  and  heavier ;  and  he  says  to  himself, 
"  They  are  very  kind  to  me,  and  if  I  thought  that  they 
knew  it  all,  and  they  were  so  kind,  how  happy  I  should 
be ! "  He  expects  that  they  will  find  it  out,  and  that 
then  there  will  be  a  time  of  it.  Now  his  father  and 
mother  are  pleasant  toward  him,  but  he  thinks  that  by 
and  by  it  will  come  out,  and  that  then  will  follow  chastise- 
3  D 


50  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ment  and  trouble.  And  that  great  undisclosed  guilt  in 
the  soul,  that  account  yet  to  be  settled,  takes  away  all  the 
joys  of  his  home,  and  makes  the  evening  a  torment.  But 
if,  when  he  came  in,  his  mother  had  stolen  behind  him, 
and  said  to  him,  in  a  gentle  tone,  "  We  know  it  all,  my 
child ;  we  are  sorry ;  but  we  shall  say  nothing  about  it ; 
we  shall  let  it  pass,"  the  child,  as  soon  as  he  found  that 
it  was  all  known  and  forgiven,  and  that  he  was  the  recip- 
ient of  so  much  love,  not  because  they  did  not  know  it, 
but  because  knowing  it  they  saw  sufficient  reasons  why  it 
should  be  passed  by,  and  not  laid  to  his  account,  how 
sweet  to  him  would  have  been  his  father's  and  mother's 
kindness  !  It  would  have  brought  tears  to  his  eyes  as  it 
had  never  done  before.  And  when  he  went  to  his  couch 
at  night,  how  sweet  would  their  unscolding  forgiveness 
have  been  to  him !  It  would  have  been  all  the  sweeter 
because  all  the  time  they  knew  his  guilt. 

Now,  the  apostle  says,  "  With  your  guilt,  with  your 
trouble,  go  before  God."  He  knows  all.  What  nobody 
else  knows,  He  knows.  He  knows  what  even  the  wife 
of  your  bosom  does  not  know.  He  knows  -  what  has 
never  been  divulged  to  any  living  soul.  Wicked  thoughts 
and  intentions  in  connection  with  your  business,  which 
perhaps  no  man  knows  except  yourself,  He  knows.  And 
when  you  feel  an  impulse  to  go  before  God,  do  not  say, 
"  I  would  go  ;  but  that  crime."  He  knew  of  that  crime 
before  He  invited  you  to  go  to  Him.  Do  not  say,  "I 
would  go;  but  that  unwashed  lust."  He  has  known  that 
lust  from  the  beginning.  "All  things  are  naked  and 
opened  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do." 
"  Let  us,  therefore,"  says  the  apostle,  "  come  boldly  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find 
grace  to  help."  Grace  to  help,  —  that  is  it :  grace  to 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  51 

help  you  out  of  your  sin.  Let  no  one,  then,  who  has  a 
sense  of  his  sinfulness,  who  is  truly  repentant,  and  who 
is  striving  to  do  better,  hesitate  to  go  to  God,  saying, 
"  Have  mercy  upon  me,  and  help  me." 


THERE  is  no  boldness  permitted  toward  God  which  is 
from  our  lower  instincts  and  failings.  The  boldness  with 
which  a  warrior  meets  his  enemy  ;  the  boldness  of  mere 
physical  courage ;  the  boldness  of  unrestrained,  irrever- 
ent zeal,  —  these  kinds  of  boldness  are  wicked  before 
God.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  one  of  our 
religious  feelings,  in  its  own  estate  pure  and  zealous,  and 
inflamed,  that  does  not  permit  us  to  come  near  to  God. 
Not  only  has  every  Christian  man  a  key  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  but  every  one  of  our  moral  sentiments  or  feel- 
ings has  its  own  special  key  with  which  it  has  a  right  to 
open  the  door  of  God's  privy  chamber,  and  go  in  unto 
Him.  What  is  the  feeling  that  animates  you?  Is  it 
conscience  ?  Is  this  feeling  carried  in  accordance  with 
God's  truth  and  spirit  ?  Then  by  it  you  may  go  bold- 
ly before  God.  Is  it  faith  that  irradiates  the  soul, — 
that  brings  light  from  the  heart  clear  up  to  heaven  ? 
Then  as  angels  went  up  and  down  the  sacred  ladder,  so 
by  faith  may  you  ascend  into  the  very  presence  of  God. 
Is  it  hope  that  fills  the  soul  ?  To  hope  is  given  also  the 
watchword,  and  it  may  go  to  God  without  hesitation.  Is 
it  love  ?  Love  is  a  universal  commoner.  There  is  no 
thicket,  or  river,  or  obstacle,  that  love  may  not  go  through. 
It  may  go  everywhere,  carrying  bounty,  immense  and  uni- 
versal, and  only  bounty.  Is  it  want,  that  knows  not  how 
to  speak  a  word  ?  In  heaven  and  before  God  the  tears 
of  want  are  louder  than  on  earth  are  the  loudest  thunders. 
Is  it  sadness  of  heart  or  remorse  ?  Whatever  it  is  in  the 


52  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

soul,  that  would  fain  draw  near  to  God  for  relief,  it  may 
go  to  him  boldly,  and  with  confidence.  There  were  tele- 
graphs before  Morse  invented  batteries  or  lines  of  wires. 
•The  longest  telegraph  ever  made  was  that  between  the 
heart  of  God  and  suffering  humanity.  And  every  man 
that  has  a  want  is  a  battery :  every  want  is  a  wire ;  every 
groan  or  tear  sends  a  message  quick  to  the  central  deposit 
of  all  petition,  —  God's  heart ;  and  from  thence  come 
back  mercies  quicker  than  return  messages  are  ever  re- 
ceived by  earthly  telegraphs. 


Is  there  anything  more  beautiful  in  a  lower  sphere  than 
the  dressing  of  a  bride  for  her  wedding?.  The  tender 
hands  of  kind  nurse,  of  loving  sisters,  and  fond  mother,  — 
how  they  all  wait  upon  her !  How  the  hours  are  consecrat- 
ed to  her  glory  !  How  her  hair  is  parted  and  braided  with 
sweet  simplicity !  How  the  veil  is  thrown  over  her  with 
exquisite  grace !  What  bracelets,  what  rings,  what  jewels, 
contribute  to  decorate  her  person  !  It  is  a  great  thing  to 
go  to  the  toilet-table  of  a  bride  in  a  wealthy  family,  and 
see  what  the  jewel-box  contains. 

Now,  God  has  opened  the  jewel-box  with  the  contents 
of  which  He  dresses  His  bride,  the  Church :  —  "  Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit."  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn." 
"  Blessed  are  the  meek."  "  Blessed  are  they  which  do 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness."  "  Blessed  are  the 
merciful."  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart."  "  Blessed 
are  the  peacemakers."  "  Blessed  are  they  which  are  per- 
secuted for  righteousness'  sake."  "  Blessed  are  ye  when 
men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all 
manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice 
and  be  exceeding  glad:  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heav- 
en :  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which  were  be- 
fore you." 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  53 

Who  wants  to  wear  jewels?    There  they  are.     Put 
them  on  ! 


THEOLOGY  is  but  a  science  of  mind  applied  to  God.  As 
schools  change,  theology  must  necessarily  change.  Truth 
is  everlasting,  but  our  ideas  of  truth  are  not.  Theology 
is  but  our  ideas  of  truth  classified  and  arranged. 


How  tenderly  God  speaks  when  He  describes  the  way 
in  which  He  deals  with  those  who  come  to  Him !  "  The 
bruised  reed  I  will  not  break." 

What  is  that  ?  Did  you  ever  see  reeds,  or  canes,  grow- 
ing, that  shoot  up  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  and  are  not  thicker 
than  your  finger  in  the  whole  growth  ?  If  they  are  strong 
and  whole,  they  cannot  stand  unless  they  are  in  some  way 
supported  by  their  fellows.  But  suppose  the  field  is  cut 
through,  and  as  the  man  goes  along,  he  strikes  with  his 
axe  or  hatchet  one  that  is  left  upon  the  edge,  and  its  stem 
is  shivered.  There  it  stands,  so  tall  and  tremulous,  but 
now  wounded  so  that  a  breath  will  cause  it  to  fall  to  the 
ground.  God  says,  I  will  deal  so  gently  with  you  that 
the  bruised  reed  shall  not  break,  that  tremulous  weakness 
shall  not  fall.  '  "* 

"  The  smoking  flax  I  will  not  quench."  Did  you  ever 
watch  the  flame  when  it  was  first  applied  to  the  wick,  and 
you  could  scarcely  tell  whether  you  were  deceived  by 
your  eye  or  there  was  really  a  light  there,  and  the  slight- 
est stirring,  the  breath  that  you  breathed,  would  blow  it 
out?  It  is  very  hard  to  make  a  lamp  begin  to  burn. 
Now,  says  God,  I  will  deal  with  those  who  come  to  me 
for  help  with  such  gentleness  that  the  smoking  flax  shall 
not  be  quenched.  If  your  soul  to-day  has  one  aspiration, 
if  there  is  one  spark  of  that  glorious  flame  leaping  up 


54  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

toward  God,  there  is  the  promise  of  that  blessed  Spirit 
that  shall  take  that  heart  of  yours,  like  a  lamp  just  lit, 
and  God  will  carry  it  so  carefully  and  gently  that  it  shall 
not  go  out  until  the  whole  is  enkindled  with  light. 


GOD'S  love  does  not  depend  upon  our  character,  but 
upon  His  own.  I  do  not  mean  to  affirm  that  it  makes 
no  difference  whether  a  man  has  a  good  or  a  bad  char- 
acter. I  do  not  mean  to  affirm  that  there  do  not  spring 
up  between  the  Divine  nature  and  ourselves,  by  reason 
of  our  relations  to  that  nature,  certain  deeper  and  more 
wonderful  affections.  But  I  do  mean  to  affirm  this : 
that  there  is  a  great  overshadowing  love  of  God  to  us, 
that  stands,  not  on  account  of  our  character,  but  on-  ac- 
cout  of  His.  God's  love  for  us  is  not  affirmed  to  exist 
because  God  perceived  a  spark  kindled  in  us  gradually 
flaming  forth,  and  reaching  up  toward  Him.  It  is  not 
affirmed  to  exist  because  our  hearts,  feebly  beating, 
seemed  to  knock  at  the  door  of  His  heart,  rousing,  by 
their  very  spent  and  weak  sounds,  the  compassion  of 
the  hospitable  Divinity. 

Do  the  roots  and  grass  and  early  flowers  break  forth 
from  winter,  and  send  messengers  for  the  sun  to  come 
back  ?  or  does  the  sun,  come  from  its  far  voyaging,  long 
to  overhang  the  sleeping  places  of  flowers  until  they  feel 
his  presence,  and,  drawn  by  his  warm  hands,  wake  and 
come  forth  into  a  warmth  and  a  light  that  waited  above 
them  while  they  were  dead,  and  that  would  have  bathed 
them  yet,  and  all  summer  long,  though  they  had  still  lain 
torpid? 

You  are  perpetual  recipients  of  God's  mercies.  In  the 
round  year  there  is  not  one  moment  in  which  He  does 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  55 

not  brood  over  you  with  His  thoughts.  His  love  and 
tenderness  are  to  you  what  the  sun  and  the  dew  are  to 
the  plant. 

IF  you  take  a  microscopic  instrument,  and  examine  the 
sting  of  a  bee,  magnifying  it  a  million  times,  you  will  find 
that  still  it  is  so  smooth  that  the  eye  can  detect  no  varia- 
tions upon  its  surface.  But  if  you  take  the  finest  needle 
that  is  manufactured,  and  look  at  it  through  a  powerful 
microscope,  you  will  find  that  it  will  appear  rough  in  the 
proportion  in  which  it  is  magnified.  This  figure  illus- 
trates the  difference  between  the  Divine  nature  and  the 
nature  of  man.  The  more  you  magnify  your  true  con- 
ceptions of  God's  nature,  the  more  beautiful  does  He 
appear ;  whereas  the  more  you  magnify  the  nature  of 
man  the  more  ugly  does  he  appear.  And  it  is  evident 
that  if  God  loves  man,  it  is  because  He  has  something  in 
Himself  that  compels  Him  to  love,  and  not  because  there 
is  anything  in  man  that  calls  forth  His  love. 


MEN  moynt  up  into  flashes  of  glorious  realization,  when 
it  seems  as  if  God  then  began  to  love  them,  because  they 
then  first  become  sensitive  to  His  love.  "When  a  man  has 
passed  through  religious  changes  from  darkness  to  light, 

—  when  he  has  put  off  his  worldly  character,  and  taken 
on  the  character  of  Christ, — when,  coming  out  of  de- 
spondency, the  compassionate  Saviour  rises-  before  him, 

—  then  he  stands  up  and  says,  "  Christ  has  begun  to  love 
me.     I  have  come  to  a  state  in  which  I  know  that  God 
loves  me."     His  impression  is  that  the  Divine  love  for 
him  began  when  the  burden  which  had  weighed  down  his 
soul  was  rolled  off. 

Just  as  if  a  blind  man,  who  had  never  seen  the  heavens, 


56  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

nor  the  earth,  nor  the  sweet  faces  of  those  that  loved  him, 
should  have  a  surgical  operation  performed  upon  his  eyes, 
so  that  he  could  see  objects  around  him,  and  should  think 
to  himself,  on  going  out  of  doors,  "  0,  how  things  are 
blossoming !  The  earth  is  beginning  to  be  beautiful ! 
Mountains  and  hills  are  springing  up  in  every  direction ! 
The  forms  of  loving  friends  are  being  raised  up  to  greet 
my  gaze !  And  the  sun  has  just  begun  to  shine  forth 
from  the  heavens !  " '  But  have  not  these  things  existed 
since  the  flood,  and  since  the  creation,  although  the  man's 
eyes  have  not  before  been  in  a  condition  to  enable  him  to 
see  them  ? 

When  we  are  brought  into  the  consciousness  of  what 
God's  love  is  to  our  poor  sinful  natures,  we  oftentimes 
have  the  feeling  that  God  is  beginning  to  be  reconciled 
to  us.  "We  take  it  for  granted  that  as  we  were  at  enmity 
with  Him,  so  He  was  at  enmity  with  us.  "We  have  an 
idea  that  he  was  just  as  hard  toward  us  as  we  were  obsti- 
nate in  violating  His  will ;  and  that  it  was  when  we  began 
to  love  Him  that  He  began  to  love  us.  It  was  then  tliat 
we  began  to  realize  His  love,  but  His  love  for  us  had  ex- 
isted from  the  time  we  came  into  being,  and  had  ever  con- 
tinued with  us.  All  the  experiences  of  our  inward  and 
outward  lives  have  been  baptized,  although  unconsciously 
to  us,  in  His  tender  thoughts.  Those  thoughts  run  after 
us  more  than  a  mother's  for  her  child  that  has  gone  away 
from  home.  •  • 


O  MAN,  thou  who  art  God's  courier  through  time  and 
eternity,  nothing  that  concerns  you  in  the  slightest  degree 
can  be  considered  as  little. 


GOD  stands  and  looks  down ;  and  all  things  are  naked 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  57 

and  opened  unto  Him.  To  Him  there  are  no  locked-up 
covers;  no  concealed  crypts;  no  dark  caves;  no  secret 
places.  There  is  nothing  that  is  not  disclosed  before  Him. 
There  is  no  man  that  is  so  encased  or  enrobed  as  to  be 
hidden  from  Him.  He  sees  through  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  men.  He  beholds  the  fountains  of  their  feeling, 
and  the  sources  of  their  thoughts.  The  intents  of  the 
heart,  —  those  psychological  tremblings  which  indicate 
that  the  wires  will  show  some  thought  or  feeling,  —  even 
these  are  known  to  Him.  The  very  beginnings  of  the 
life  of  the  soul  are  plain  unto  Him. 


WHEN  a  man  looks  at  his  own  state  and  asks  whether 
he  shall  be  able  to  prevail,  and  stand  in  Zion  and  before 
God,  it  is  not  at  all  wonderful  that  his  courage  fails  him. 
But  why  should  he  think  of  himself?  Why  should  he 
measure  his  chances  of  everlasting  life  merely  by  the 
slender  forces  that  he  can  address  to  the  work  of  salva- 
tion ?  Have  you  no  God  ?  Have  you  no  Saviour  ?  Was 
it  not  for  you  that  Calvary  became  memorable?  Was 
one  thought  thought,  was  one  feeling  felt,  did  one  drop  of 
blood  fall  to  the  ground,  on  that  blessed  mount,  in  which 
you  had  no  right  nor  part  nor  lot  ?  The  treasure  of  Cal- 
vary is  the  birthright  of  every  child  that  has  come  into 
life  since  the  death  of  Christ ;  and  all  that  was  then  mani- 
fested by  God,  in  word  or  thought  or  act,  was  but  a  feeble 
expression  of  the  unspeakable  love  that  was  behind  it  all. 
All  that  He  did  then  was  for  you. 


A  DOCTOR,  ignorant  of  disease,  is  called  in  to  cure  a 

man  that  is  sick.     Before  he  came  he  expected  to  find 

the  patient  weak,  and  pale,  and  lying  on  a  couch ;  but  he 

finds  him  disfigured,  blotched,  cramped,  distorted,  nervous, 

3* 


58  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

fitful,  pettish,  and  he  will  not  touch  him.  He  thought  he 
was  only  sick,  but  he  finds  him  ugly !  As  if  ugliness  was 
not  a  part  of  sickness  ! 

Now,  men  have  a  romantic  idea  of  being  sinful.  They 
think  that  to  be  sinful  is  something  less  than  to  be  bad. 
They  regard  sinfulness  as  something  akin  to  weakness, 
rather  than  wickedness.  And  they  say,  "  If  I  were  only 
good,  God  would  forgive  me  my  sins ;  but  now  I  make 
promises  and  break  them,  I  say  what  I  do  not  mean  in 
prayer,  I  indulge  in  things  which  I  pray  God  to  enable 
me  to  avoid,  I  continually  exhibit  passions  which  I  know 
are  evil ;  and  how  can  I  hope  for  salvation  ?  "  As  if 
being  filled  with  such  things  was  not  what  we  mean,  and 
what  God  means,  by  sin !  As  if  it  was  not  on  account 
of  these  very  things  that  we  need  the  Divine  recuperative 
power ! 

It  requires  no  engineering  to  make  a  road  that  has 
been  made  already ;  but  to  cut  through  the  mountain,  and 
fill  up  the  morass,  and  make  a  road,  does  require  some 
engineering.  And  if  men  were  to  make  themselves  com- 
plete before  presenting  themselves  to  God,  there  would 
be  no  marvel  in  God's  supplying  love.  It  is  because 
men  are  imperfect  and  wicked  perpetually,  that  there  is 
a  marvel  in  this  love. 


A  GREAT  many  persons  have  almost  no  confirmation 
of  hope,  partly  from  a  fault  of  teaching.  There  are  a 
great  many  persons  whose  conscience  is  educated  to 
watch  over  them,  so  that  it  becomes  the  torment  of  their 
life.  They  are  always  afraid  they  will  make  a  mistake. 
They  are  forever  on  the  doubtful  edge  of  fear  and  hope. 
They  are  never  able  to  say,  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer 
liveth."  And  even  if  they  have  moments  of  triumph, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  59 

they  are  like  flowers  that  are  exposed  to  an  uneven  tem- 
perature. If  they  have  plants  of  righteousness,  they  are 
like  early  vegetables  that  have  no  settled  summer.  They 
lose  all  the  seed  sown  in  early  periods. 


WHEN  I  stand  and  look  at  my  congregation,  I  am  like 
a  man  in  a  picture-gallery.  Here  is  a  bright,  radiant 
landscape.  Right  next  to  it  is  a  landscape  that  is  storm- 
clad  and  dark.  There  is  the  picture  of  a  calm,  tranquil 
sea.  Right  next  to  it  is  the  picture  of  a  sea  that  is  rough 
and  boisterous.  Here  is  a  scene  of  love.  Right  next  to 
it  is  a  tragic  scene.  There  is  a  representation  of  wealth. 
Right  next  to  it  is  a  representation  of  poverty-  Thus 
throughout  the  picture-gallery  the  most  striking  contrasts 
are  seen. 

Now,  I  see  just  such  contrasts  when  I  stand  and  look 
from  my  pulpit.  Here  is  a  man  whose  face  betokens 
consolation.  Right  next  to  him  is  a  man  whose  heart  by 
affliction  has  been  left  empty  and  desolate.  There  is 
a  man  triumphing  in  prosperity  and  enjoyment.  Right 
next  to  him  is  a  man  who  is  stricken  down  by  misfortune 
and  sorrow.  I  see  all  these  various  conditions  of  life 
portrayed  before  me  when  I  look.  I  see  light  and  dark 
shades  commingled  all  through  the  congregation.  Some- 
times I  feel  inclined  to  preach  to  those  who  are  hopeful. 
At  other  times  I  cannot  help  preaching  to  those  who  are 
in  darkness  and  great  trouble. 

Now,  you  of  this  latter  class,  this  is  a  comfort  for  you. 
God  says  that  neither  tribulation,  nor  distress,  nor  perse- 
cution, nor  famine,  nor  nakedness,  nor  peril,  nor  sword, 
nor  anything,  shall  take  you  out  of  His  hands. 

Let  us  imagine  a  case.  An  heir  is  so^dissolute  that  he 
is  outcast  from  his  home.  He  determines  to  become  an 


60  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

emigrant.  He  comes  to  this  country,  and  changes  his 
name,  thinking  to  live  here  in  obscurity.  His  prospects 
are  anything  but  flattering,  as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  with 
children  who  are  educated  to  nothing.  He  finds  no  em- 
ployment. He  is  at  last  driven  to  a  mine,  and  he  be- 
comes a  collier.  Acquiring  some  degree  of  love  for 
work,  he  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  will  build  up  a  little 
property  for  himself.  After  toiling  day  and  night  for  a 
long  period  in  the  mine,  he  feels  that  he  has  a  foothold 
on  life  once  more.  Meantime,  his  father  dies,  leaving  his 
whole  estate  to  him.  The  agent,  ascertaining  his  where- 
abouts, comes  to  bring  him  news  of  his  good  fortune. 
He  does  not  at  first  disclose  himself  to  him,  thinking  that 
he  will  put  him  to  proof,  and  see  what  there  is  in  him. 
Instead  of  saying,  "  I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  your 
father's  whole  estate  has  fallen  to  you,  and  that  you  are 
exalted  to  a  position  of  influence,"  he  lies  back,  and  takes 
means  to  thwart  the  man's  schemes.  The  man  only 
•  knows  that  his  plans  are  overturned  by  somebody.  He 
measures  his  distress  from  his  own  stand-point.  The 
agent  gets  hold  of  his  little  property,  takes  a  note  against 
him  to  collect,  and  in  various  ways  harasses  and  terrifies 
him,  till  he  is  overwhelmed  with  distress,  and  it  seems  to 
him  that  the  end  of  all  things  has  come,  and  he  is  ready 
to  leave  all  his  hard  earnings,  and  run  away,  for  the  sake 
of  escaping  from  his  trouble.  Then  the  agent  says  to 
him,  "  I  was  only  tantalizing  you.  I  came  to  bring  you 
tidings  that  you  are  the  sole  heir  of  your  father's  im- 
mense estate.  I  have  been  doing  these  things  just  to  see 
how  you  would  act.  I  bear  the  testimonies  of  your  heir- 
ship.  Here  is  the  evidence  that  you  are  the  possessor  of 
uncounted  wealth."  How  different  now  do  these  little 
tan  tali  zations  seem  from  what  they  did  but  just  before ! 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  61 

Then  they  seemed  like  thunderbolts  ;  now  they  have  no 
noise  in  them.  Then  they  seemed  dark  as  midnight; 
now  they  seem  as  bright  as  noonday.  He  laughs  now 
to  think  that  he  cried  then.  He  rejoices  now,  where 
then  he  was  drowned  in  sorrow. 

But  the  eternal  kingdom  of  God  is  yours,  God  himself 
is  yours.  Sustained  by  Him,  upheld  by  Him,  cared  for 
by  Him,  we  are  held  out  for  a  little  while  in  blessed  tan- 
talization,  soon  to  be  caught  up  as  His  children,  His  heirs, 
and  joint-heirs  with  Christ.  What  blessedness  is  there 
in  this  thought !  How  should  it  inspire  us  with  patience 
as  we  journey  through  life ! 


IMAGINE  a  dove  saying,  "I  dislike  this  glossy  green  on 
my  neck,"  and  trying  to  remove  it.  It  may  rub  the 
feathers  off,  but  they  will  speedily  come  green  again.  It 
cannot  eradicate  the  color  from  its  feathers.  The  sun- 
flower will  be  yellow,  however  much  it  may  prefer  to  be 
violet.  Everything  will  have  its  own  peculiar  form,  its 
own  peculiar  color,  its  own  peculiar  juices,  its  own  pecu- 
liar odors,  and  its  own  peculiar  constitution.  God  meant 
that  it  should  be  so ;  He  watches  to  see  that  it  is  so ;  He 
holds  things  down  in  their  places,  and  you  among  them, 
and  your  faculties  in  you.  He  gives  you  liberty  to  con- 
trol one  faculty  by  another,  but  He  never  gives  you  lib- 
erty to*  rub  out  one  figure.  The  problem  you  are  to 
work  out  in  life  requires  that  you  should  use  everything 
put  into  you.  You  think  you  are  not  doing  it,  but  you 
are.  God  laughs  to  see  how  deceived  you  are,  —  to  see 
you  think  you  are  not  doing  what  you  are,  and  to  see 
you  doing  what  you  think  you  are  not. 


THE  vague  and  sad  forebodings  of  Cliristians  as  to 


62  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

their  final  safety  are  very  unreasonable,  in  the  light  of 
God's  revelation.  '  There  are  men  that  hope  sometimes, 
but  doubt  much  more.  This  arises  from  an  almost  ex- 
clusive regard  to  one's  own  sickness,  and  an  almost  utter 
neglect  to  look  at  the  fulness,  richness,  freeness,  and  in- 
exhaustible bounty  of  God's  love  for  men.  No  man  can 
find  any  reasonable  comfort,  I  think,  so  long  as  he  is 
more  conscious  of  his  own  state  than  of  the  amazing 
grace  and  power  of  God.  I  do  not  know  the  man  who, 
if  he  should  look  merely  at  his  own  disposition,  at  his 
past  life,  at  his  Christian  experience,  could  find  argument 
for  anything  but  sadness  and  dissatisfaction  in  regard^  to 
the  past,  and  fear  in  regard  to  the  future.  It  is  not  in 
that  direction  that  hope  springs  up.  As  long  as  a  man 
looks  in  upon  himself  he  is  like  one  that  opens  a  trap- 
door and  looks  down  to  see  the  stars.  The  stars  are  not 
to  be  seen  by  looking  that  way.  You  do  not  want  to 
look  down  into  a  well  to  see  the  light,  but  into  the 
heavens  above. 


To  you  that  are  not  troubled  it  may  seem  an  inconse- 
quential thing,  but  to  you  that  are  troubled  it  is  a  source 
of  inexpressible  peace  and  gladness,  that  there  is  a  God 
who  knows  how  to  take  care  of  men  when  they  do  not 
know  how  to  take  care  of  themselves. 


THERE  is  but  one  single  view,  it  seems  to  me,  on  which 
a  man  can  lie  down  and  die  without  fear,  and  that  is  this : 
"  God  loves  me,  because  it  is  His  nature  to  love ;  God 
will  save  me,  because  it  is  by  saving  me  that  He  will 
best  please  His  own  self."  And  if  I  go  home  to  heaven, 
I  shall  go,  not  on  the  step-stone  of  my  own  virtue  and 
goodness,  but  because  I  am  attracted  by  the  drawings  of 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  63 

that  Heart  that  suffered  for  me  on  Calvary,  and  that  ever 
lives  to  intercede  for  me  in  heaven.  We  are  to  die  in 
Christ.  We  are  to  die  so  that  we  shall  not  die.  The 
egg  is  destroyed  that  it  may  give  forth  the  life  of  the 
bird ;  and  death  to  us  is  emergence ;  it  is  going  forth  to 
a  clime  of  everlasting  joy  and  singing. 


WHEN  two  notes  are  brought  to  the  same  tone  they 
accord  with  each  other,  and  each  note  knows  that  the 
other  is  right  because  they  accord ;  so  when  two  hearts 
are  right,  they  will  fall  into  such  unison  and  concord  that 
it  will  not  be  difficult  for  one  to  see  that  the  other  is 
rijrht. 


THERE  can  be  nothing  on  earth  half  so  important  to  a 
man  as  his  own  self.  It  is  right  to  feel  a  lively  interest 
in  nature,  in  human  society,  and  in  the  events  of  that 
great  world-history  which  is  always  going  on  around  us, 
and  in  our  day.  But  what  kingdom  on  earth  is  so  wide 
or  so  important  as  the  kingdom  of  God  in  a  man's  own 
soul  ?  The  Russian  empire  constitutes  the  largest  earthly 
dominion ;  and  yet  the  sun  need  not  employ  half  its  hours 
in  going  from  side  to  side  of  it.  And  the  kingdom  of  the 
soul  shall  not  have  been  traversed  when  the  sun  itself  is 
burned  to  the  socket,  and  its  light  has  gone  out.  It  is 
infinite ;  it  is  endless. 

WE  are  like  men  who  go  by  their  watches,  but  never 
set  their  watches  by  any  regulator.  We  are  continually 
regulating  our  lives  by  standards  so  false  that  they  amount 
to  no  regulators  at  all. 

THE  reflection  of  other  men's  good-will  toward  us  we 


64  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

use  more  than  anything  else  to  estimate  our  characters 
by.  Those  who  do  this  are  like  buoys  that  are  always 
on  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  that  move  with  it  as  it 
rises  and  falls  with  the  ocean-tides.  "We  lie  like  floats  on 
the  world-tide,  which  goes  in  and  out,  and  up  and  down ; 
and  we  have  no  gauge  on  the  shore  to  show  what  is  our 
absolute  condition.  It  is  merely  relative  to  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  ever-shifting,  ever-changing  tide  of  human 
feelinsr. 


DID  you  ever  think  what  a  volume  your  talk  would 
make  if  it  were  printed  ?  If  everything  that  some  per- 
sons say  in  a  single  day  were  printed,  what  a  volume  it 
would  make !  and  if  all  they  say  in  a  year  were  printed, 
what  a  library  it  would  make  !  I  pity  the  man  that 
should  have  to  read  the  one  or  the  other.  And  yet,  all 
their  sayings,  from  day  to  day,  and  from  year  to  year,  are 
flying  in  every  direction,  producing  their  effects  upon 
those  on  whom  they  fall.  The  exaggerations,  the  over- 
colorings,  the  misrepresentations,  the  lies  (for  we  all  lie 
continually)  which  escape  us  when  we  are  speaking  about 
ourselves,  about  our  children,  about  our  families,  about 
our  property,  about  our  neighbors,  about  everything  that 
we  have  to  do  with,  —  what  must  be  their  influence  upon 
the  world  ?  Still,  how  few  there  are  that  know  anything 
about  the  use  of  their  tongue,  which  is  forever  on  the 
move ! 


As  warmth  makes  even  glaciers  trickle,  and  opens 
streams  in  the  ribs  of  frozen  mountains,  so  the  heart 
knows  the  full  flow  and  life  of  its  grief  only  when  it  begins 
to  melt  and  pass  away. 


•ROYAL  TRUTHS.  65 

I  THINK  that  one  of  the  master  incantations,  one  of  the 
most  signal  deceits,  which  we  practise  upon  ourselves, 
comes  from  the  use  of  language.  There  are  the  words 
that  we  learn  in  childhood  which  we  abandon  when  we 
come  to  manhood.  Generally  speaking,  our  fireside  words 
are  old  Saxon  words,  —  short,  knotty,  tough,  and  imbued 
with  moral  and  affectional  meanings  ;  but  as  we  grow 
older  these  words  are  too  rude  and  plain  for  our  use,  and 
so  we  get  Latin  terms  and  periphrases  by  which  to  ex- 
press many  of  our  thoughts.  When  we  talk  about  our- 
selves we  almost  invariably  use  Latin  words,  and  when 
we  talk  about  our  neighbors  we  use  Saxon  words.  And 
one  of  the  best  things- a  man  can  do,  I  think,  is  to  exam- 
ine himself  in  the  Saxon  tongue.  If  a  man  tells  that 
which  is  contrary  to  the  truth,  let  him  not  say,  "  I  equivo- 
cate " :  let  him  say,  "  I  lie."  Lie !  why,  it  brings  the 
judgment-day  right  home  to  a  man's  thought.  Men  do 
not  like  it,  but  it  is  exactly  the  thing  that  will  most  effect- 
ually touch  the  moral  sense;  and  the  more  the  moral 
sense  is  touched  the  better.  If  a  man  has  departed  from 
rectitude  in  his  dealings  with  another,  let  him  not  say,  "  I 
took  advantage,"  which  is  a  roundabout,  long  sentence : 
let  him  say,  " I  cheated"  That  is  a  very  direct  word. 
It  springs  straight  to  the  conscience,  as  the  arrow  flies 
whizzing  from  the  bow  to  the  centre  of  the  mark.  Does 
it  grate  harshly  on  your  ear  ?  Nevertheless,  it  is  better 
that  you  should  employ  it;  and  you  should  come  to  this 
determination :  "  I  will  call  things  that  I  detect  in  my 
conduct  by  these  clear-faced,  rough-tongued  words  that 
my  enemies  would  use  if  they  wanted  to  sting  me  to  the 
quick." 

imagine   with   wonder   the  passage   of  a  comet 


66  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

through  space,  flaming  and  sparkling  along  strange  paths, 
and  glowing  upon  stars  innumerable  as  it  goes ;  but  that 
is  not  half  as  wonderful  as  the  passage  of  the  human  heart, 
flaming  and  sparkling  and  glowing  with  ten  thousand  ef- 
fects shot  out  upon  every  man  we  meet,  as  we  move 
through  life.  Planets  are  cold  and  dead,  and  all  their 
radiance  falls  without  effect ;  but  the  human  soul,  as  it 
passes  up  and  down  the  ways  of  its  experience,  is  produc- 
ing ten  thousand  effects  at  every  single  moment,  many  of 
which  we  know  nothing  about. 


EVEN  in  our  religious  feelings,  we  are  prone  to  follow 
our  sympathies  rather  than  our  judgments  or  consciences, 
and  to  measure  ourselves  by  the  general  condition  of  the 
church  or  sect  to  which  we  belong.  We  are  as  if  we 
were  in  a  ship,  and  we  called  its  voyage  our  voyage,  and 
its  passage  our  passage.  And  if  our  church  or  sect  is 
flourishing,  we  have  a  feeling  that  we  are  flourishing ; 
and  so  we  lose  our  personal  identity. 


IN  a  great  affliction  there  is  no  light  either  in  the  stars 
or  in  the  sun ;  for  when  the  inward  light  is  fed  with  fra- 
grant oil,  there  can  be  no  darkness  though  the  sun  should 
go  out.  But  when,  like  a  sacred  lamp  in  the  temple,  the 
inward  light  is  quenched,  there  is  no  light  outwardly, 
though  a  thousand  suns  should  preside  in  the  heavens. 


DID  you  ever  sit  down  and  make  an  inventory  of  what 
you  do,  in  order  to  come  to  a  distinct  understanding  with 
reference  to  your  use  of  time  ?  You  probably  know  all 
about  your  possessions.  You  know  every  bond,  if  you 
have  bonds ;  you  know  every  mortgage,  if  you  have 
mortgages ;  you  know  every  pound  that  is  deposited,  if 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  67 

you  have  deposits  of  money  ;  you  know  every  piece  of 
property,  if  you  own  real  estate ;  you  know  all  your 
debts  and  credits.  These  things  you  look  at  both  in 
detail  and  in  the  sum.  But  God  has  given  ouV  chief 
treasure  to  us  in  the  use  of  time ;  and  how  many  of  us 
understand  that  matter  ?  How  many  of  us  know  what 
we  do  with  our  time  ?  How  many  of  us  have  ever  taken 
even  a  cursory  view  of  one  single  year,  saying,  "  I  am 
anxious  to  know,  on  the  whole,  how  I  carried  myself  with 
reference  to  a  faithful  use  of  the  element  of  time  through 
January,  through  February,  through  March,  through 
April,  through  May,  through  June,  through  July,  through 
August,  from  month  to  month  ?  What  is  the  habit  of  my 
life  in  this  respect  ?  Of  the  time  that  is  given  me,  how 
much  of  it  do  I  use  well ;  how  much  do  I  use  indifferent- 
ly ;  and  how  much  do  I  squander  ?  "  There  is  not  one 
man  in  a  hundred  that  ever  thought  of  these  things.  We 
hear  the  general  declaration  that  we  ought  to  employ 
our  time ;  men  are  exhorted  to  be  diligent  in  business, 
and  fervent  in  spirit ;  but  I  suspect  that  there  is  not  a 
single  person  that  ever  sits  down  to  make  a  deliberate 
inventory  in  regard  to  the  element  of  time,  so  as  to  form 
a  correct  judgment  of  his  habit  of  using  it.  Ought  that 
so  to  be  ? 


AT  this  time,  all  over  the  trees,  and  throughout  the 
grass,  is  deposited  the  condensed  moisture  of  the  air; 
and  silent  dew-drops  are  on  every  flower  and  every  leaf. 
If  you  go  and  look  at  them  in  the  darkness  of  to-night, 
there  is  no  form  or  comeliness  in  them ;  but  by  and  by 
God  will  have  wheeled  the  sun  in  its  circuit  so  that  it 
shall  look  over  the  horizon :  and  the  moment  its  light 
strikes  these  hidden  drops,  small  and  scattered,  every  one 


68  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

shall  glow  as  if  it  were  a  diamond,  and  all  nature  shall 
be  lighted  up  with  myriad  fires,  each  reflecting  some- 
thing of  the  Divine  glory.  God  has  His  own  plans. 
He  never  told  us  in  full  what  they  are.  We  know  this, 
however ;  that  we  are  fragmentary  in  our  lives  ;  that  it 
takes  many  to  make  the  one  idea  of  God  ;  that  the  work 
of  past  generations  is  hinged  upon  this,  and  that  the  work 
of  this  generation  is  hinged  upon  that  of  generations  to 
come ;  and  that  God  sits  in  sublimity  of  counsel,  putting; 
part  with  part,  so  that  when  we  see  the  connected  whole, 
the  things  that  no\v*seem  most  insignificant  will  shine 
ou't  hi  wonderful  beauty  and  magnificence. 


WE  are  continually  denying  that  we  have  habits  which 
we  have  been  practising  all  our  life.  Here  is  a  man  that 
has  lived  forty  or  fifty  years,  and  a  chance-shot  sentence 
or  word  lances  him,  and  reveals  to  him  a  trait  which  he 
has  always  possessed,  but  which  until  now  he  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  that  he  possessed.  For  forty  or  fifty  years 
he  has  been  fooling  himself  about  a  matter  as  plain  as  his 
hand  before  his  face. 


THERE  is  many  and  many  a  man  who  thinks  that  he  is 
fighting  the  Bible  and  exalting  morality  when  he  says,  "  I 
believe  in  such  an  old  man  ;  I  believe  hi  such  a  matron ; 
I  believe  in  such  a  person."  No,  you  do  not  believe  in 
them ;  it  is  the  grace  of  God  in  them  that  you  believe  in. 
It  is,  after  all,  those  spiritual  truths  that  God  more  glori- 
ously writes  in  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart,  .than  with  ink  or 
on  tables  of  stone,  that  you  are  bowing  down  before. 


How  many  there  are  that  use  their  ears  as  a  bolting- 
cloth,  only  to  catch  the  bran,  and  let  the  flour  go.     How 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  69 

many  there  are  that  hear  everything  that  is  keen  and 
pungent  and  salient  in  scandal,  and  nothing  that  is  favor- 
able, commendable,  praiseworthy  of  men.  How  many 
persons  are,  in  regard  to  hearing,  like  sentinels  who, 
when  set  to  take  care  of  things  that  are  good,  are 
always  asleep,  but  who,  when  set  to  take  care  of  things 
that  are  bad,  never  go  to  sleep  ?  How  many  persons 
are  there  that  form  any  conception  of  what  the  char- 
acter of  their  life  is  in  this  matter?  One  man  goes  home 
and  sits  down,  and  his  companion  says  to  him,  "My  dear, 
what  have  you  heard  to-day  ? "  and  he  commences  to 
descant  on  the  things  that  he  has  heard ;  and  it  would 
seem  as  if  he  had  been  carried  by  God's  providence  into 
so  many  pleasant  ways,  as  if  he  had  heard  so  many  pleas- 
ant things,  that  he  had  been  signally  blessed.  Another 
man  goes  home  and  sits  down,  and  when  he  is  asked, 
"  What  have  you  heard  to-day  ?  "  he  says,  "  Heard !  I 
have  heard  some  queer  things";  and  he  goes  on  and  tells 
something  that  he  has  heard  about  this  man  to  his  dis- 
credit ;  something  that  he  has  heard  about  that  woman 
that  is  derogatory :  something  that  he  has  heard  against 
the  judge ;  something  that  he  has  heard  that  implicates 
his  next-door  neighbor ;  some  story  that  a  man  should 
never  hear,  or  that  having  heard  he  should  never  repeat ; 
things  that  one  would  suppose  he  must  have  gone  through 
a  pandemonium  to  hear.  How  many  men  take  account 
of  their  habits  of  hearing?  I  think  it  is  important  that 
a  man  should  examine  himself  for  the  purpose  of  coming 
to  some  knowledge  of  his  conduct  in  this  regard. 


I  HAVE  known  many  persons  that,  when  they  began  to 
feel  a  certain  sweet  joy  in  singing  a  hymn,  would  check 
themselves  and  say,  "  Have  I  a  right  to  this  feeling  ? 


70  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

does  it  proceed  from  the  proper  source  ?  "  It  is  exactly 
as  though  a  bird  should  commence  to  sing  on  a  tree  close 
by  your  dwelling,  and  you  should  say  to  yourself,  "I 
wonder  if  that  is  the  bird  that  I  heard  yesterday  " ;  and 
you  should  run  to  the  window  to  see,  and  frighten  it  so 
that  it  would  stop  singing  and  fly  away.  If  any  feeling 
begins  to  sing  on  the  bough  of  hope,  the  moment  you  say, 
"  Stop,  let  me  see  the  construction  of  its  vocal  organs," 
that  moment  it  stops  singing.  If  an  emotion  of  sympathy 
with  justice  and  conscience  springs  up  in  your  bosom,  the 
moment  you  say,  "  Stop,  let  me  see  how  it  is  coming," 
that  moment  it  ceases  to  be.  If  you  begin  to  experience 
love  toward  God,  the  moment  you  say,  "  Stop,  let  me 
look  at  this,"  that  moment  it  comes  to  an  end.  The 
moment  you  look  at  a  feeling,  the  feeling  stops,  and  in- 
tellection begins,  thus  revolutionizing  the  whole  process 
of  the  mind. 

"  MAN  that  is  born  of  a  woman  is  of  few  days,  and  full 
of  trouble."  It  comes  to  us  all :  not  to  make  us  sad,  but 
to  make  us  sober ;  not  to  make  us  sorry,  but  to  make 
us  wise ;  not  to  make  us  despondent,  but  by  its  darkness 
to  refresh  us,  as  the  night  refreshes  the  day ;  not  to  im- 
poverish us,  but  to  enrich  us,  as  the  plough  enriches  the 
field,  —  to  multiply  our  joy,  as  the  seed  is  multiplied  a 
hundredfold  by  planting.  Our  conception  of  life  is  not  Di- 
vine, and  our  thought  of  garden-making  is  not  inspired. 
Our  earthly  flowers  are  quickly  planted,  and  they  quickly 
bloom,  and  then  they  are  gone ;  while  God  would  plant 
those  flowers  which,  by  transplantation,  shall  live  for- 
ever. 


SOME  of  the  most  disagreeable  persons  that  you  meet 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  71 

in  the  world,  are  these  Christian  people  that  are  consid- 
ering everything  in  the  universe  from  the  stand-point  of 
their  own  culture.  One  of  the  most  blessed  things  in  this 
world  is  to  be  unconscious  of  self,  and  conscious  only  of 
God,  the  eternal  sphere,  and  the  great  truths  of  the  Di- 
vine government  and  human  life.  Happy  is  he  before 
whom  these  things  are  so  eminent  that  his  own  conscious 
self  is  gone.  And  yet  how  many  well-meaning  persons 
there  are  who  are  forever  treating  you  to  the  various  dish 
of  their  sensibilities,  their  struggles,  their  temptations, 
and  their  wants ;  with  whom  it  is  continually  I,  I,  I,  — 
me,  me,  me,  —  my,  my,  my ;  whose  life  is  one  everlasting 
habit  of  egotism,  only  basted  and  served  up  in  religion  ! 


WE  part  from  this  world  strangers ;  we  come  together 
in  everlasting  acquaintanceship.  We  lose  our  friends 
that  we  may  really  find  them.  The  husbandman  loses 
his  seed  in  the  furrow,  that  he  may  gain  a  harvest.  We 
lose  our  friends  that  we  may  really  find  them  a  hundred- 
fold ;  for,  that  which  we  encircle  here,  that  which  our 
love  cradles,  that  which  flesh  and  raiment  clothe,  is  not 
our  friend.  That  which  the  body  itself  encloses  is  the 
friend.  And  who  sees  that  through  the  composite  flesh ; 
through  a  life  which  is  itself  but  disconnected  and  frag- 
mentary ;  through  toils  and  struggles,  and  intermitted 
purposes  and  mistakes  ;  through  griefs  and  heart-sorrow- 
ings ;  through  dim  ignorance ;  through  yearnings  and 
vague  aspirations?  Who  more  than  suspects  the  cause 
that  gives  forth  these  intermitted  effects  ?  The  soul,  — 
who  sees,  who  knows  that  ? 


A  PLOUGH  is  coming  from  the  far  end  of  a  long  field, 
and  a  daisy  stands  nodding,  and  full  of  dew-dimples. 


72  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

That  furrow  is  sure  to  strike  the  daisy.  It  casts-  its  shad- 
ow as  gayly,  and  exhales  its  gentle  breath  as  freely,  and 
stands  as  simple,  and  radiant,  and  expectant,  as  ever; 
and  yet,  that  crushing  furrow,  which  is  turning  and  turn- 
ing others  in  its  course,  is  drawing  near,  and  in  a  moment 
it  whirls  the  heedless  flower  with  sudden  reversal  under 
the  sod! 

And  as  is  the  daisy,  with  no  power  of  thought,  so  are 
ten  thousand  thinking,  sentient  flowers  of  life,  blossoming 
in  places  of  peril,  and  yet  thinking  that  no  furrow  of  dis- 
aster is  running  in  toward  them,  —  that  no  iron  plough 
of  trouble  is  about  to  overturn  them.  Sometimes  it  dim- 
ly dawns  upon  us,  when  we  see  other  men's  mischiefs 
and  wrongs,  that  we  are  in  the  same  category  with  them, 
and  that  perhaps  the  storms  which  have  overtaken  them 
will  overtake  us  also.  But  it  is  only  for  a  moment,  for 
we  are  artful  to  cover  the  ear,  and  not  listen  to  the  voice 
that  warns  us  of  our  danger. 


MEN  never  can   find  themselves   of  themselves,  but 
always  in  the  touch  of  some  other  and  higher  one. 


HE  that  knows  how  to  die  in  his  passions  every  day ; 
he  that  knows  how  to  die  in  his  pride  from  hour  to  hour  ; 
he  that  has  Christ  in  each  particular  thwarting  and  event 
of  life  ;  he  that  knows  how,  from  the  varied  experiences 
of  life,  to  bring  forth  from  day  to  day  a  Christian  charac- 
ter, need  not  fear  the  grand  and  final  earthly  experience 
to  which  he  is  coming.  There  is  no  death  to  those  that 
know  how  to  die  beforehand.  Those  who  know  how  to 
lay  themselves  upon  Christ,  and  take  the  experiences  of 
every-day  life  in  the  faith  of  Christ ;  those  who  see  the 
•will  of  God  in  everything  that  abounds,  whether  wound- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  73 

ing  or  healing,  —  they  have  nothing  left  at  the  end  of 
life  except  peace,  translation,  and  the  beginning  of  im- 
mortality. 

IT  is  the  nature  of  Christ  to  awaken  in  us,  and  to  bring 
forth,  that  which  we  should  have  no  power  to  excite  in 
ourselves.  In  all  the  fields  there  is  not  one  flower  whose 
root  is  not  organized  for  the  promotion  of  its  growth  ; 
whose  nature  is  not  stored  with  all  elements  of  develop- 
ment and  of  perfection.  And  yet,  not  one  of  them  can 
lift  up  the  clod,  or  struggle  forth ;  not  one  of  them  can 
give  birth  to  its  leaves,  or  break  forth  in  blossoming 
beauty,  until  the  secret  of  their  life,  which  the  sun  car- 
ries, is  given  to  them.  Then,  when  the  light  calls  them, 
and  the  warmth ;  then,  when  the  sun  has  wrought  might- 
ily within  them  do  they  come  to  themselves.  Their  life 
is  in  Him. 


THE  loving  women  who  followed  Christ  must  have 
found  a  daily  heaven.  His  serene  nature ;  His  benefi- 
cence ;  His  all-encompassing  sympathy ;  His  disinterest- 
edness, that  gave  everything  but  asked  nothing;  His 
supernal  wisdom ;  His  power  over  life ;  His  regency 
over  nature ;  His  lordship  over  the  winds  that  flew  to 
His  hand  as  a  dove  to  its  nest ;  His  mastery  over  dark- 
ness and  death  itself,  calling  back  the  departed  spirit 
from  its  far-off  wandering  to  life  again;  His  effluent 
glory,  as  He  hung  in  mid-air,  sustained  by  white  clouds, 
or  as  He  walked  the  night  sea,  carpeted  with  darkness ; 
but,  above  all,  that  inspiration,  that  heavenly  purity,  that 
spiritual  life  which  touched  their  life,  and  that  aroused 
them  as  they  were  never  before  aroused,  —  in  short,  the 
presence  of  their  God !  —  all  these  things,  abiding  with 
4 


74  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

them,  travelling  from  day  to  day  with  them,  measuring 
out  their  golden  year,  gave  them  their  first  full  knowl- 
edge of  life  as  the  soul  recognizes  it !  And  these  were, 
to  their  fond  hope,  doubtless,  a  perpetual  gift. 


WHAT  is  just,  is  more  to  us  as  we  grow  older.  In 
every  new  relation  of  life  into  which  we  come,  we  find 
out  finer  shades,  higher  colors,  nicer  distinctions,  and 
wider  circuits  of  justice.  Justice  is  never  so  slender  to 
us  as  when  we  first  practise  it.  It  grows  in  the  imagi- 
nation. It  is  enlarged  by  experience.  It  includes  more 
elements,  it  touches  things  with  a  finer  stroke,  and  it  de- 
mands more  exquisite  duties,  every  single  day  and  year 
that  a  man  lives,  who  lives  at  all  right. 


How  many  of  my  congregation  have  I  seen  in  their 
troubles !  How  many  of  them  have  I  walked  with  in 
their  hour  of  anguish  for  sin!  Every  Sunday  I  look  upon 
a  congregation,  one  in  every  six  of  whom,  it  seems  to  me, 
I  have  gone  down  to  the  baptismal  water  with,  or  sprink- 
led, and  walked  with,  through  all  the  stages  of  their  heart- 
distress.  For  how  many  of  them  have  I  spoken  words 
of  consolation  at  funerals?  Where  are  the  children, 
where  are  the  brothers  and  sisters,  where  are  the  parents, 
where  are  the  kindreds  of  my  church  ?  Where  are  our 
old  friends  and  co-workers  ?  Where  are  those  that  were 
in  the  height  of  personal  expectation  ten  years  ago  ? 
We  have  lived  ten  years  together,  most  of  us,  —  some  of 
us  longer  than  that ;  and  have  we  not  tracked  God  at 
every  step,  verifying  His  declaration,  "  Ye  shall  have 
tribulation  "  ?  And  are  we  to  look  forward  to  the  time 
to  come  with  less  expectation  of  tribulation  ?  Let  each 
look  upon  his  household.  Who  shall  be  unclothed  next  ? 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  75 

I  desire  to*  take  it  to  myself.  I  desire  to  look  at  my 
plans  and  expectations  in  the  light  of  this  inquiry.  For 
I  too  have  made  a  garden,  and  have  forgotten  to  put  a 
sepulchre  in  it.  I  desire  to  commence  a  new  survey. 
Let  me  go  up  to  that  central  mound  covered  with  flow- 
ers, and  let  me  see  if  underneath  those  flowers  there  is 
not  an  opening  mouth,  —  the  darkness  of  the  grave. 
And  if  there  is,  then  let  me  rejoice ;  for  I  am  sure  that 
that  is  an  unwatered  garden  which  has  no  sepulchre.  In 
so  great  a  congregation  as  mine,  where  there  are  so  many 
thousands  that  by  invisible  threads  are  connected  with 
this  vital  teaching-point,  sorrow  becomes  almost  a  litera- 
ture, and  grief  almost  a  lore ;  and  we  are  in  danger  of 
walking  over  the  road  of  consolation  so  frequently,  that 
at  last  it  becomes  to  us  a  road  hard  and  dusty.  "We  are 
accustomed  to  take  certain  phrases  as  men  take  medici- 
nal herbs,  and  apply  them  to  bruised  and  wounded  and 
suffering  hearts,  until  we  come  to  have  a  kind  of  ritual- 
istic formality.  It  is  good,  therefore,  that  every  one  of 
us,  now  and  then,  should  be  brought  back  to  the  reality 
of  the  living  truth  of  the  Gospel,  by  some  heart-quake,  — 
by  some  sorrow,  —  by  some  suffering.  Flowers  mislead 
us,  beguile  us,  enervate  us,  make  us  earthly,  even  if  they 
assume  the  most  beautiful  forms  of  loveliness ;  while 
troubles  translate  us,  develop  us,  win  us  from  things  that 
are  too  low  to  be  worthy  of  us,  and  bring  us  into  the 
presence  and  under  the  conscious  power  of  God. 

THERE  can  be  no  barrenness  in  full  summer.  The 
very  sand  will  yield  something.  Rocks  will  have  moss- 
es, and  every  rift  will  have  its  wind-flower,  and  every 
crevice  a  leaf ;  while  from  the  fertile  soil  will  be  reared 
a  gorgeous  troop  of  growths,  that  will  carry  their  life  in 


76  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ten  thousand  forms,  but  all  with  praise  to  God.  And  so 
it  is  when  the  soul  knows  its  summer.  Love  redeems  its 
weakness,  clothes  its  barrenness,  enriches  its  poverty,  and 
makes  its  very  desert  to  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 


A  HOUSE  built  on  sand  is,  in  fair  weather,  just  as  good 
as  if  builded  on  a  rock.  A  cobweb  is  as  good  as  the 
mightiest  chain  cable  when  there  is  no  strain  on  it.  It  is 
trial  that  proves  one  thing  weak  and  another  strong. 


I  THIXK  that  faith  and  much  thinking  do  not  dwell 
well  together;  not  in  religion  alone.  I  do  not  think  it 
does  to  think  too  much  in  friendship.  Let  a  child  think 
about  all  the  things  he  sees  his  father  and  mother  do,  and 
see  if  he  loves  them  any  better  after  that.  Let  a  friend 
go  about  insisting  upon  reducing  all  feelings  and  instincts 
to  thoughts,  and  strive  to  understand  the  nature  of  emotion 
by  thinking,  —  let  him,  instead  of  giving  liberty  in  his 
heart,  go  to  applying  his  philosophy  to  his  friends,  and 
see  if  he  will  stand  nobler  in  friendship  or  not.  Let  him 
go  out  into  the  realm  of  thinking  about  eternal  things, 
and  it  would  be  just  as  foolish.  Let  a  man  begin  to  study 
the  relation  of  the  race  to  God's  government,  and  all  the 
mutations  of  government,  all  natural  and  civil  law,  and  all 
the  ten  thousand  questions  that  rise  up  before  the  mind 
that  thinks  and  is  inquisitive  of  such  thoughts  as  these, 
and  the  fact  t is  that  idea,  stars,  land,  sea,  everything, — 
the  more  a  man  thinks  upon  them,  the  less  is  he  strong, 
and  the  more  is  he  enervated.  The  great  depths  give  up 
their  mists,  and  these  banks  of  white  silver  hue  are  hid  in 
the  fog.  There  are  hours  when  it  seems  as  though  every- 
thing is  swept  away  from  us ;  that  there  is  no  heaven, 
that  it  is  all  fancy  and  a  dream ;  that  there  is  no  respon- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  77 

sibility ;  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  sin  and  virtue ; 
that  we  are  all  so  many  animals,  we  are  all  following  the 
instincts  and  circumstances  that  press  without  us ;  there 
is  no  God,  or  He  would  speak,  or  certainly  He  would  give 
us  some  token  in  our  extremest  anguish  that  He  is  near ; 
there  would  be  some  dawn  of  light.  There  are  a  great 
many  men  who  strive  to  explain  these  doubts  by  refer- 
ence to  the  natural  laws,  but  no  man  has  followed  this 
line  of  thought  to  any  satisfaction.  There  are  a  great 
many  happy,  genial,  and  hopeful  theologians  that  think 
at  last  they  have  got  up  early  enough  to  find  out  God, 
and  so  every  generation  you  will  find  a  man  that  ex- 
plains everything.  He  does  until  the  next  man  kicks  it, 
and  it  all  goes  back  to  dust  again.  When  you  shall  chain 
the  waves  of  the  sea  that  they  shall  not  rise  any  more ; 
when  you  shall  fasten  in  the  tops  of  the  forest  the  winds 
that  rock  them,  that  make  them  sigh  their  dirges  in  win- 
ter and  sing  their  anthems  in  summer ;  when  you  shall 
stay  the  courses  of  the  stars  and  bind  the  earth  that  it 
shall  not  roll  in  its  orbit,  then  you  may  take  these  great 
questions,  and,  by  the  bands  of  your  thought  and  by  the 
cords  of  your  philosophy,  you  may  fasten  them ;  but  so 
long  as  you  cannot  do  that,  so  long  will  they  have  free 
course.  And  so  with  the  thoughts  of  men.  There  must 
needs  come  hours  when  a  man  finds  himself  quite  drifted 
away  from  old  thoughts.  -  Contagious  hours  they  are, 
hours  of  great  trouble,  awakening  hours  of  philosophy 
and  of  doubt.  In  such  hours  as  this  there  is  nothing  for 
it  but  to  run,  and  there  is  but  one  way  to  run,  and  that  is 
Godward.  A  man  in  these  hours  that  does  not  run  for 
God,  should  run  for  the  lunatic  asylum.  There  is  but 
one  way  in  which  a  man  can  find  any  rest,  and  that  is  to 
say  blindly  but  desperately,  "  There  is  a  Thinker,  there 


78  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

is  a  Controller,  and  if  men  have  not  drawn  His  lineaments 
right,  and  if  the  portraiture  of  the  books  is  not  right,  one 
thing  I  know,  my  soul  proclaims  there  is  goodness  and 
wisdom,  there  is  control.  Whatever  it  is  I  seize  it,  I  hold 
by  an  anchor  to  that  blessed  hope."  The  very  moment 
a  man  begins  to  hold  by  that,  sometimes,  as  by  an  elec- 
tric touch,  the  clouds  fade  away,  the  sweet  beaming  face 
of  Christ  shines  again,  and  all  the  mists  have  gone  as 
sometimes  you  have  seen  them  in  the  morning  disappear, 
you  know  not  how  ;  we  are  bright  again,  and  have  joy 
in  Christ,  and  in  all  the  blessed  promises  of  His  word ; 
and  the  miracles  recorded  there  are  not  half  as  marvel- 
lous as  the  miracles  wrought  in  the  sweet  experience  of 
Christians  every  day. 

IN  cities,  and  in  business,  the  proportion  of  men  that 
have  mistaken  their  calling  is  larger  than  anywhere  else. 
I  see  men  every  day  that  are  in  situations  for  which  they 
are  not  at  all  calculated.  There  are  multitudes  of  young 
men  that  want  to  be  rich  in  merchandise.  They  will  not 
put  their  lily  hands  where  the  sun  can  brown  them. 
They  were  born,  they  say,  for  better  things.  Many  of 
them  were  born  for  the  poor-house,  and  they  will  be  there 
in  the  end !  They  may  meet  with  a  measure  of  success 
for  a  time,  till  the  sap  of  youth  is  gone  out  of  them,  and 
then  they  will  be  fit  only  to  be  cast  out,  and  to  be  trod- 
den under  foot  of  men. 

If  you  transplant  a  tree  in  the  spring,  the  sap  in  it  will 
carry  it  half  through  the  summer,  though  its  roots  may 
be  dead.  It  will  throw  out  leaves,  and  appear  like  a 
sound  tree  for  a  good  part  of  the  first  year.  But  the 
•  next  year  it  will  die.  And  every  man,  when  he  starts 
in  life,  has  enough  of  the  sap  of  youth  to  carry  him  a 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  79 

certain  way,  though  he  may  have  mistaken  his  calling ; 
but  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  when  that  sap  is  expended, 
and  he  is  rootless  and  branchless,  where  will  he  be? 
There  is  a  whole  deluge  of  white-faced,  white-livered, 
imbecile,  lily-handed  men  in  the  city,  seeking  wealth 
without  toiling  for  it,  —  seeking  honor  without  achieving 
it,  —  seeking  place  without  deserving  it.  They  are  ut- 
terly useless  to  society,  and  yet  of  all  men  they  are  the 
most  extravagant  in  their  demands  upon  society.  Do 
you  suppose  they  will  go  unwhipped?  God  laughs  at 
them ;  and  so  do  angels,  and  everybody  but  themselves. 
They  think  that  they  are  martyrs.  They  think  that  there 
ia  a  mysteriousness  in  the  providences  of  life,  because 
such  fair-haired,  beautiful  young  men,  who  desired  so 
much,  and  meant  to  have  so  much,  got  so  little.  And 
even  what  they  did  get  was  bitter. 

Did  not  they  get  what  they  deserved?  Was  their 
experience  anything  but  the  inevitable  result  of  the  vio- 
lation of  a  law  of  their  being  ?  Nowhere  were  cause  and 
effect  ever  better  vindicated  than  they  are  in  the  perish- 
ing of  ten  thousand,  whose  ill-starred  ambition  leads  them 
into  things  for  which  they  are  unfit,  and  induces  them  to 
seek  results  which  they  can  never  attain.  Do  you  ask 
what  you  shall  do  ?  Go  to  sea !  —  we  need  sailors.  Go 
out  to  work !  —  we  need  farm  hands.  Go  into  the  shop  ! 
—  we  need  mechanics.  Do  not  congregate  and  house  in 
the  city,  where,  when  having  made  a  few  abortive  at- 
tempts to  be  honest  and  succeed,  and  having  failed,  you 
will  take  the  gimlet  of  craft  and  cunning,  and  bore  your 
way  through  life,  until,  your  consciences  being  gone,  you 
will  resort  to  more  positively  dishonest  ways,  which  will 
bring  you  at  last  to  utter  disgrace  and  ruin. 


80  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

THERE  is  a  place  where  the  glory  of  God  shall  be  an 
uninterrupted  stream  which  shall  be  so  clear,  so  apparent, 
that  we  shall  live  in  the  presence  of  it.  That  is  to  say, 
when  we  stand  so  as  to  see  God  as  He  is,  there  will  not 
be  a  single  thought  nor  a  single  emotion  that  shall  not  fill 
the  soul  with  rapture  ;  there  will  not  be  a  single  emotion 
nor  a  single  thought  that  shall  not  touch  the  soul  as  the 
hand  of  the  musician  touches  the  chord  of  the  instrument ; 
there  will  not  be  a  single  thought  nor  a  single  emotion 
that  shall  not  vibrate  with  admiring  joy.  For  God  is  the 
centre  of  glory,  and  He  acts  on  a  pattern  of  grandeur  in 
moral  attributes,  such,  that  to  stand  in  His  presence  and 
see  Him,  is  to  be  ceaselessly  agitated  and  affected  by  the 
wonder  of  such  a  Being.  We  shall  see  Him  as  He  is,  — 
the  God  of  glory ;  and  our  eye  will  be  so  strengthened, 
that  we  can  behold  Him  and  not  die. 


IF  a  man  has  oil  in  his  can,  every  drop  he  pours  out 
makes  his  supply  one  drop  less.  There  is  no  springing 
up  from  the  bottom  to  prevent  diminution  in  the  supply. 
It  is  not  so  with  the  soul.  The  nature  of  that  is  to  renew 
its  supply,  so  that  the  more  you  draw  from  it,  the  more 
there  is  to  draw ;  the  more  it  gives,  the  more  it  has  to 
give.  Giving  will  make  any  man's  soul  richer. 


WHEN  a  person  becomes  a  Christian,  it  is  not  possible 
for  him  to  have  anything  taken  from  him  but  that  which 
he  cannot  afford  to  keep ;  and  that  which  he  does  keep 
will  be  more  fruitful  of  joy  than  anything  which  an  un- 
christian man  possesses.  I  know  it  is  living  to  become  a 
Christian,  and  death  not  to  be  one.  It  is  liberty  to  be 
a  Christian,  and  bondage  not  to  be  one.  To  become 
a  Christian  is  to  come  to  that  for  which  God  made 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  81 

you ;  it  is  to  use  your  powers  as  God  originally  de- 
signed that  they  should  be  used.  The  object  of  Chris- 
tianity is  to  restore  man  to  the  nature  which  he  originally 
possessed.  It  was  for  this  that  Christ  came  into  the 
world.  And  they  that  enter  upon  a  Christian  life  ear- 
liest are  the  most  blessed.  I  do  not  say  these  things  to 
the  young  because  I  am  a  pensioned  minister,  and  be- 
cause it  is  my  business  to  say  them.  I  do  not  say  them 
because  I  am  a  minister,  but  because  I  am  a  man.  I 
would  say  them  to  my  own  son  ;  to  the  dearest  friend  I 
have  in  this  world.  I  say  them  because  my  inmost  con- 
viction is  that  they  are  true. 


Do  you  suppose  a  parent  dislikes  to  see  real  vigor, 
and  joy,  and  elasticity,  and  genius,  and  attainment,  and 
capacity,  in  his  children  ?  Is  there  anything  that  makes 
a  parent  happier  than  to  see,  so  long  as  it  is  good,  the 
utmost  growth  and  development  in  his  children  ?  If  their 
powers  are  not  perverted,  the  more  they  expand,  the 
more  satisfaction  does  the  parent  derive  from  them. 
And  does  God,  who  is  more  than  any  earthly  father, 
love  dry  and  withered  natures,  or  full  and  joyful  ones, 
that  are  pouring  out  the  freshness  of  their  life  ?  If  ever 
you  are  going  to  be  a  Christian,  do  not  set  out  to  be  a 
gloomy-eyed,  twilight-faced,  bat-like  Christian,  hovering 
between  night  and  day.  Do  not  be  a  Christian  parsimo- 
>  nious  of  joy,  and  full  of  tears  and  sadness.  Do  not  at- 
tempt to  be  a  Christian  after  the  pattern  of  the  ascetic. 
"  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  right- 
eousness, and  peace,  and  joy," — righteousness  of  rectitude 
and  integrity,  peace  which  God  gives  by  the  regulation 
of  man's  nature,  and  joy  which  is  the  reflection  of  heaven 
from  the  burnished  experiences  of  an  enlightened  soul. 
4*  F 


82  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

I  ask  no  young  man  or  maiden  to  look  upon  a  religious 
life  as  a  life  of  toil  and  gloom  ;  I  do  not  ask  you  to  enter 
upon  a  religious  life  feeling  that  you  are  assuming  a  bur- 
den which  you  must  bear  till  your  nature  is  worn  out.  I 
come  to  where  you  are,  and  I  strike  on  the  rock,  and  say, 
"  O  ye  dead,  come  forth  into  life ! "  'I  touch  your  blinded 
eyes,  and  say,  "  Look  !  behold ! "  I  put  my  finger  to  the 
portal  of  your  ears,  and  say,  "  Hear  the  Word  of  the 
Lord,  ye  that  are  deaf ! "  I  invite  you  to  manliness. 
Receive  moral  power.  Use  all  the  faculties  which  God 
has  given  you  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  give  you  the 
fullest  liberty  and  the  fullest  power  possible. 


Is  there  anything  in  this  world  that  grows  so  low  as 
love  ?  Is  there  anything  anywhere  that  is  so  stunted  ? 
It  grows  as  an  evergreen  grows  in  Nova  Zembla,  where 
the  winter  is  long,  and  the  summer  is  short,  and  where  it 
can  get  but  six  inches  from  the  ground.  But  when  you 
carry  it  further  south,  it  springs  up  and  carries  its  stately 
growth  full  three  hundred  feet  toward  heaven,  and  stands 
emplumed  and  embowered  there,  showing  what  it  should 
be,  —  and  what  love  should  be  prefigured. 


THERE  "are  a  great  many  Christian  men  that  walk  up 
and  down  our  streets,  shaking  their  heads,  and  talking  to 
young  men  in  a  supercilious,  worldly-wise  way,  saying, 
"  Are  we  not  deacons  and  elders  ?  and  do  we  not  know 
what  belongs  to  vital  godliness  ?  And  do  you  suppose  it 
is  worth  our  while  to  be  too  scrupulous  ?  My  young 
friend,  when  you  have  lived  as  long  as  I  have,  you  will 
have  learned  a  good  deal  more  wisdom  than  you  know 
now."  And  so  they  wink  at  indiscretions  and  dishon- 
esties essentially  as  mean  as  the  Devil,  —  and  the  mean- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  83 

est  thing  in  the  world  is  the  Devil.  Do  you  not  suppose 
that  such  men  are  infidels?  Do  you  not  suppose  they 
are  crucifying  the  things  that  are  right,  the  things  that 
are  true,  the  things  that  are  pure  ?  They  sacrifice  every 
quality  that  belonged  to  the  nature  of  Christ  Jesus. 
They  deride  and  sacrifice  every  moral  attribute  which 
He  possessed.  And  in  sacrificing  these,  they  sacrifice 
the  Lord  that  bought  them.  I  think  they  are  the  worst 
infidels  in  the  world.  No,  no;  they  are  not,  either,  as 
long  as  they  keep  in  the  shop ;  but  when  they  walk 
about,  when  they  go  into  the  homes  of  the  poor,  and  be- 
gin also  to  apply  the  same  wretched  infidelity  to  public 
questions,  to  the  rights  of  men,  to  great  principles,  —  for 
principles  are  the  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude  by  which 
God  divides  the  events  of  time,  —  when  they  begin  to 
apply  that  same  withering  selfishness  to  human  proced- 
ures, and  attempt  to  bring  questions  of  right  and  wrong 
down  to  the  measure  of  the  counter,  rather  than  to  that 
of  the  golden  reed  of  God's  sanctuary,  they  are  even 
worse  infidels  than  they  were  before. 

I  bid  you,  therefore,  to  beware  of  the  infidelity  of  the 
counter.  And  I  also  bid  you  to  beware  of  the  infidelity 
of  the  Church  ;  or  of  the  enlarging  of  a  man's  right  to  do 
wrong,  under  the  cover  of  doctrines  and  ecclesiastical  ex- 
pedients ;  —  for  never,  since  the  world  began,  has  there 
been  more  iniquity  committed  than  under  the  priest's 
cloak,  synodical  or  conventional.  Christ  has  been  cruci- 
fied by  religious  men  for  religious  purposes.  The  great- 
est wickednesses  that  have  taken  place  in  my  life  has  the 
Church  winked  at,  and  winked  at  for  expedient  reasons. 
Religion  has  ridden  the  earth  as  a  red  dragon.  It  has 
been  the  torment  of  men  the  world  over.  Not  the  relig- 
ion of  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  religion  of  organized  bodies 


84  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

of  men  who  take  counsel  of  their  own  selfishness  and 
folly.     I  bid  you  to  beware  of  all  such  religion  as  this. 


SOME  men  seem  to  think  that  the  glory  of  the  Church 
consists  in  being  let  alone.  "What  they  esteem  above  all 
other  things  is  peace.  A  green  mantling  pool  of  what 
they  call  orthodoxy,  with  a  minister  croaking  like  a  frog 
solitary,  —  that  is  their  conception  of  a  Christian  church 
in  a  state  of  prosperity.  But,  according  to  the  Bible,  we 
are  warriors.  The  battles  we  fight,  however,  are  not 
battles  of  blood,  but  battles  of  love  and  mercy.  We  are 
sent  to  carry,  not  the  sword  and  the  spear,  not  rude  vio- 
lence, but  conceptions  of  higher  justice,  nobler  purity, 
wiser  laws,  and  more  beneficent  customs.  The  weapons 
of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal.  With  these  we  contest, 
and  we  will  contest,  against  rage  and  wrath  and  bitter- 
ness, knowing  that  He  that  called  us  and  sent  us  is  the 
God  of  battles,  and  will  guide  us  and  give  us  that  victory 
which,  if  worth  anything,  is  worth  achieving  in  the  se- 
verest conflict.  For  victories  that  are  cheap,  are  cheap. 
Those  only  are  worth  having  which  come  as  the  result 
of  hard  fighting. 

How  strange  a  combination  of  circumstances,  that  the 
Cross  should  have  been  lifted  up  so  near  to  a  garden ; 
that  the  garden,  of  all  places,  should  have  held,  amidst 
its  treasures,  such  a  thing  as  a  sepulchre  hewn  in  a  rock ; 
that  thus  a  cold  grave  should  have  been  unbosomed 
among  flowers,  and  waited,  for  weeks  and  months  and 
years,  for  the  coming  of  its  sacred  guest !  And  now,  how 
striking  the  picture !  A  few  words,  and  the  whole  stands 
open  to  the  imagination,  as  to  the  very  sight !  The  two 
women,  side  by  side,  silent  and  yet  knowing  each  other's 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  85 

thoughts,  with  one  grief,  —  with  one  yearning,  —  with 
one  suffering!  Home  was  forgotten,  and  nature  itself 
was  unheeded.  The  odorous  vines,  the  generous  blos- 
soms, the  world  of  sights  around  them,  were  as  if  they 
were  not.  There  was  the  rock,  and  only  that  to  them. 
There  was  neither  daylight,  nor  summer,  nor  balm,  nor 
perfume.  There  were  no  lilies  by  their  feet,  nor  roses 
around  them ;  for  though  there  were  ten  thousand  of 
them,  there  was  to  them  only  that  cold,  gray,  sepulchral 
rock.  See  what  a  life  theirs  had  been. 


THE  experience  of  every  fresh  mourner  is,  "  I  knew 
that  Death  was  in  the  world,  but  I  never  thought  that 
my  beloved  could  die."  Every  one  that  comes  to  the 
grave  says,  coming,  "  I  never  thought  that  I  should  bury 
my  heart  here."  Though  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world  it  hath  been  so ;  though  the  ocean  itself  would  be 
overflowed  if  the  drops  of  sorrow,  unexpected,  that  have 
flown  should  be  gathered  together,  and  rolled  into  its 
deep  places  ;  though  the  life  of  man,  without  an  excep- 
tion, has  been  taken  away  in  the  midst  of  his  expecta- 
tions, and  dashed  in  sorrows ;  yet  no  man  learns  the 
lesson  taught  by  these  facts,  and  every  man  lays  out  his 
paradise  afresh,  and  runs  the  furrow  of  execution  round 
about  it,  and  marks  out  its  alleys  and  beds,  and  plants 
flowers  and  fruits,  and  cultures  them  with  a  love  that 
sees  no  change  and  expects  no  sorrow  ! 


No  man  acquainted  with  men  need  have  any  philo- 
sophical scruple  in  believing  in  the  existence  of  evil 
spirits.  If  there  are  any  spirits  worse  than  some  men,  I 
am  sorry  for  them  !  No  man  who  watches  what  men  do 
to  each  other  need  have  any  scruple  as  to  the  belief 


86  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

that  evil  spirits  are  occupied  in  tempting  men.  We  can 
conceive  of  nothing  done  by  a  spirit,  in  the  way  of  malig- 
nant temptation,  that  is  worse  than  that  which  we  see 
every  day  among  living  men.  And  those  who  doubt 
whether  a  benevolent  God  would  allow  a  malign  spirit 
to  tempt  His  creatures,  surely  must  have  lived  with  their 
eyes  shut.  The  question  is  settled  in  every  street,  the 
question  is  settled  in  every  one  hundred  men,  that  God 
does  allow  men  to  live,  whose  business  seems  to  be  very 
largely  that  of  pleasing  themselves  by  injuring  others. 
Those  who  have  doubts  on  this  subject  cannot  have 
weighed  or  considered  the  unmistakable  and  indisputable 
fact,  that  God  does  allow  bad  spirits  in  the  flesh  to  tempt 
men  to  evil.  Nor  do  I  know  why  there  should  be  any 
reason  to  suppose  that  He  does  not  allow  bad  spirits  out 
of  the  flesh  to  do  the  same  thing. 


NOBODY  is  without  his  equivalents.  If  a  man  is  very 
impulsive,  he  says,  "  O,  if  I  could  be  as  cool  as  that 
man  is  ! "  The  equator  is  always  talking  about  icebergs, 
and  icebergs  are  always  talking  about  the  equator.  If  a 
man  is  very  phlegmatic,  he  says,  "  It  takes  me  longer  to 
get  agoing  than  it  does  my  neighbor  to  get  through.  I 
wish  that  I  was  quick."  The  other  says,  "  I  am  like 
powder  and  I  go  off  like  powder.  I  wish  I  was  cold  like 
this  man."  Nobody,  I  say,  is  without  his  equivalents.  If 
you  are  phlegmatic,  you  have  disadvantages  which  an 
impulsive  man  has  not;  but  you  also  have  advantages 
which  he  has  not.  You  have  your  platform,  and  he  has 
his  ;  and  you  are  not  to  stand  looking  and  coveting  each 
other's  peculiarities.  You  are  to  accept  your  nature 
such  as  it  is,  and  study  how  you  can  carry  it  in  such  a 
way  as  to  glorify  God  and  serve  your  fellow-men. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  87 

COULD  that  be  a  wise  judgment  that  was  founded 
upon  the  chaff,  the  husk,  the  stubble  of  the  field,  —  igno- 
rant of  the  grain,  of  the  fruit  ?  Can  that  be  a  satisfying 
judgment  of  men  which  includes  only  the  instruments  by 
which  they  grow,  and  leaves  out  the  very  fruits  which 
these  appendages  and  instruments  were  set  to  nourish? 
As  the  inward  state  does  not  represent  itself  in  the  out- 
ward life,  so  neither  is  the  outward  life  an  index  of  the 
inward  state.  The  richest  often  are  the  poorest ;  the 
happiest  often  the  least  happy.  The  most  sorrowful 
are  fullest  of  joy.  Misfortune  is  felicity ;  prosperity, 
bankruptcy.  If  you  would  know  the  meaning  of  these 
solemn  words  of  infinite  wisdom,  —  "  He  that  findeth  his 
life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake 
shall  find  it." 


WHEN  the  sun  disappears  below  the  horizon  he  is  not 
down.  The  heavens  glow  for  a  full  hour  after  his  depart- 
ure. And  when  a  great  and  good  man  sets,  the  west  is 
luminous  long  after  he  is  out  of  sight.  A  room  in  which 
flowers  have  been  is  sweet  long  after  the  flowers  have 
been  taken  away.  They  leave  a  fragrance  behind.  And 
a  godly  man  who  lives  unselfishly  and  disinterestedly,  and 
seeks  the  good  of  other  men,  cannot  die  out  of*  this  world. 
When  he  goes  hence,  he  leaves  behind  much  of  himself. 
There  have  been  many  men  who  left  behind  them  that 
which  hundreds  of  years  have  not  worn  out.  The  earth 
has  Socrates  and  Plato  to  this  day.  The  world  is  richer 
yet  by  Moses  and  the  old  prophets  than  by  the  wisest 
statesmen.  We  are  indebted  to  the  past.  We  stand  in 
the  greatness  of  ages  that  are  gone  rsfther  than  in  that  of 
our  own.  But  of  how  many  of  us  shall  it  be  said  that, 
being  dead,  we  yet  speak  ? 


88  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 


must  not  compare  their  own  peculiarities  with 
their  neighbors',  and  say,  "  Their  constitutional  tendencies 
are  such  that  they  can  easily  restrain  their  faculties  from 
working  in  wrong  directions,  and  they  ought  to  do  it  ;  but 
I  am  so  organized  that  I  cannot  do  it,  and  it  is  of  no  use  for 
me  to  try."  I  assure  you  that  by  faith  and  patience  you 
can  do  it.  There  is  release  for  you  from  your  evil  incli- 
nations, if  you  will  but  employ  the  powers  which  God  has 
given  you  with  which  to  overcome  them.  The  crooked 
can  be  made  straight.  As  a  crooked  piece  of  timber  can 
be  made  straight  though  its  nature  cannot  be  changed,  so 
a  man's  faults  can  be  corrected  though  his  natural  dispo- 
sition cannot  be  rooted  out. 


WE  all  know  what  is  meant  by  a  professional  air. 
The  actor,  the  physician,  the  merchant,  the  sailor,  the 
schoolmistress,  the  minister  of  the  Gospel,  —  any  of  them 
can  be  told  almost  as  far  as  they  can  be  seen.  You  cer- 
tainly can  tell  them  if  you  talk  with  them.  As  men  that 
work  in  the  midst  of  odors  carry  about  in  their  raiment, 
if  not  in  their  very  persons,  the  savor  of  the  things  in 
which  they  work,  so  there  seems  to  be  a  perfume  of  the 
business  a  man  follows  that  strikes  into  him.  When  you 
see  a  professional  man,  you  feel  that  he  is  a  professional 
man,  from  his  looks  and  his  manners.  We  can  easily  dis- 
tinguish the  great  sects  which  prevail  in  this  country  by 
the  peculiarities  that  mark  them. 

Now  just  such  a  stamp  is  apt  to  be  put  upon  our  piety. 
It  is  a  certain  smooth-speaking ;  a  pious  way  of  talking  ; 
a  restricted,  narrowed,  measured  thing.  Men  that  are 
Christians,  or  are  trying  to  be  Christians,  seem  to  think 
that  Christian  character  requires  suppression :  not  so 
much  opening  out  as  shutting  in ;  not  so  much  the  carry- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  89 

ing  of  a  lion-like  front  that  drives  evil  away,  as  the  carry- 
ing of  one's  self  in  such  a  way  that  no  lion  can  see  him, 
and  nothing  can  get  at  him.  There  is  a  cowardly,  white- 
faced  spirit  of  professional  piety  in  the  world.  Thank 
God,  it  is  not  as  common  as  it  was.  It  becomes  less  and 
less  common,  I  think,  every  year.  We  are  in  a  transition 
state  out  of  it.  Yet  there  are  many  things- that  tend  to  pro- 
duce a  want  of  robust,  open-faced,  upright,  manly  piety. 

You  have  seen  hedges,  and  you  have  seen  forest-trees. 
Of  all  formal  things  in  the  world,  a  clipped  hedge  is  the 
most  formal ;  and  of  all  the  informal  things  in  the  world, 
a  forest-tree  is  the  most  informal.  Now  there  are  many 
persons  that  think  Christians  should  be  hedges,  and  that 
every  spring  and  autumn  they  should  undergo  a  Gospel 
shearing,  so  that  they  shall  have  regular  angular  sides. 
But  the  true  idea  of  Christians  is  that  they  are  to  be  like 
cedars  of  Lebanon,  —  great  rugged  growths  of  centuries, 
that  never  think  whether  this  branch  goes  ten  yards  be- 
yond that  one  or  not,  but  which  attain  greatness  of  stat- 
ure, and  amazing  strength  and  endurance.  An  old  cedar 
of  Lebanon  will  suck  more  sap  from  among  rocks,  than 
any  of  our  hedges  will  out  of  the  deepest  ground  ever  dug 
by  the  gardener's  spade. 


I  UNDERSTAND  by  law  nothing  except  an  index  of  the 
way  in  which  God's  own  power  acts  all  the  time.  When 
we  see  a  law,  we  see  that  which  signifies  the  way  in  which 
God  invariably  acts  under  certain  circumstances ;  and 
God's  laws  are  nothing  but  words  applied  to  habits  of  ad- 
ministration in  the  Divine  Mind.  And  when  you  search 
a  law  of  nature,  you  search  the  way  in  which  He  reveals 
Himself  in  certain  administrative  departments,  and  the 
way  in  which -He  always  acts  in  such  departments. 


90  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

GOD'S  sovereignty  is  not  in  His  right  hand ;  God's  sov- 
ereignty is  not  in  His  intellect ;  God's  sovereignty  is  in 
His  love.  "  I  will  have  mercy  on  whom  I  will  have  mercy, 
and 'whom  I  will  I  will  harden."  He  stands  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  all-comforting  grace,  —  grace  not  to  'be  given  to 
those  that  have,  but  grace  to  be  given  as  raiment  is  given 
to  those  that  are  naked ;  grace  to  be  given  as  medicine  is 
given  to  those  that  are  sick ;  grace  to  be  given  as  food  is 
given  to  those  that  are  hungry ;  grace  to  be  given  as 
charity  is  bestowed  on  those  that  are  needy.  God  sup- 
plies, not  the  supplied,  but  the  unsupplied ;  he  strengthens 
not  the  strong,  but  the  weak ;  he  comforts  not  the  rejoic- 
ing, but  the  sorrowing. 


THERE  are  a  great  many  persons  that  are  superstitious 
of  the  Sabbath-day,  of  the  Bible,  of  prayer,  and  of  re- 
ligious reading  and  conversation  and  institutions.  Now 
these  things  are  admirable.  The  Sabbath-day,  the  Bible, 
prayer,  religious  reading,  religious  conversation,  and  re- 
ligious institutions,  are  indispensable  to  the  present  condi- 
tion of  the  race  and  the  world,  and  they  are  neither  to  be 
lightly  spoken  of,  nor  at  all  ridiculed  or  condemned.  But 
then  they  are  not  religion.  They  are  the  means  for  edu- 
cating men  in  religion.  They  are  instruments  merely  for 
the  production  of  a  certain  result,  and  not  the  result  itself. 
A  man  may  have  flails  endless,  and  not  have  wheat,  al- 
though flails  are  the  things  for  getting  out  wheat  when 
you  have  it.  A  man  may  have  pigments,  and  brushes, 
and  canvas,  and  yet  not  have  pictures,  although  these  are 
the  things  for  making  pictures.  Raphael,  and  Titian,  and 
Correggio,  would  have  had  no  pictures  if  they  had  not 
had  fingers,  —  though  I  doubt  not  they  would  have  come 
nearer  to  it  than  many  do  that  have  fingers  and  brushes. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  91 

Ploughs  and. harrows,  and  hoes  and  spades,  are  indispen- 
sable to  the  farm  and  the  garden  ;  but  a  man  should  not 
worship  a  plough,  or  a  harrow,  or  a  hoe,  or  a  spade,  as  if 
it  was  the  thing  which  it  was  made  to  produce.  Many 
persons  confound  the  means  with  the  end  in  moral  things, 
although  they  never  do  in  ordinary  things.  Many  per- 
sons have  great  scrupulosity  of  conscience  about  the  use 
of  means ;  but  the  absence  of  higher  qualities  of  manli- 
ness, the  violation  of  them,  the  total  sacrifice  of  them,  — 
these  things  give  them  little  pain.  Many  men  are  ex- 
ceedingly careful  of  the  Sabbath-day.  They  are  exceed- 
ingly careful  of  the  Bible.  The  Bible,  —  why,  it  would 
shock  them  beyond  measure  if  a  child  should  handle  it 
irreverently.  It  gives  them  great  pain  to  see  any  disre- 
spect shown  to  the  Bible.  They  carry  it  as  the  old 
priests  carried  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  About  all  the 
things  that  relate  to  religion  as  educating  means  they  are 
very  scrupulous.  But  when  it  comes  to  those  qualities 
for  which  these  were  given,  for  which  these  are  the  ma- 
chinery, for  which  these  are  merely  the  schoolmasters,  — 
when  it  comes  to  unmistakable  truth ;  when  it  comes  to 
the  most  transparent  sincerity ;  when  it  comes  to  faith  in 
God  ;  when  it  comes  to  courage,  and  simplicity,  and  un- 
selfishness, and  meekness,  —  when  it  comes  to  these,  they 
have  no  scruples.  The  idea  of  striking  the  Bible  gives 
them  great  horror ;  but  the  idea  of  striking  a  man,  that 
is  God's  temple,  has  little  or  no  effect  upon  them.  And 
yet,  when  the  round  earth  shall  burn,  the  Bibles  will 
burn  too.  But  when  the  round  earth  shall  burn,  not  one 
living  soul  will  burn.  All  the  wide  world  is  but  the  tool 
of  God  for  the  development  of  the  one  fruit,  —  man.  For 
man  was  that  fruit  which  hung  upon  the  tree  in  the  gar- 
den, and  man  is  to  be  the  fruit  issuing  therefrom.  This 


92  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

fruit,  if  plucked  too  soon,  will  ripen  yet.  It  is  the  fruit 
which  God  means  by  the  husbandry  of  time,  —  by  all 
the  institutions  of  the  world.  And^  what  kind  of  piety  is 
this  that  stickles  for  a  Sunday,  and  does  not  care  for  a 
generation  or  a  race  ?  What  kind  of  piety  is  this  that 
stands  tremulous  with  superstitious  fear  for  church  regu- 
lations, for  religious  ceremonies,  and  for  days,  but  with- 
out concern  lets  world-currents  flow  deep  as  the  currents 
of  the  Dead  Sea  over  generations  and  races?  It  is 
that  kind  of  piety  which  existed  when  Christ  condemned 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  as  hypocrites,  and  which  con- 
sisted in  putting  the  instruments  above  the  end  to  be  ac- 
complished. 

No  man  is  prosperous  whose  immortality  is  forfeited. 
No  man  is  rich  to  whom  the  grave  brings  eternal  bank- 
ruptcy. No  man  is  happy  upon  whose  path  there  rests 
but  a  momentary  glimmer  of  light  shining  out  between 
clouds  that  are  closing  over  him  in  darkness  forever- 
more. 


WHILE  you  are  talking  about  distributing  Bibles, 
really,  in  men's  esteem,  you  are  Bibles  yourselves  walk- 
ing through  the  streets  and  in  places  of  business.  Do 
not  you  know  that  hundreds  of  men  judge  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  religion  by  what  you  are  and  what  you  do  ? 
Do  not  you  know  that  men  are  wont  to  say,  "O,  the 
preacher  drones  and  drones  about  virtue,  but  just  see 
how  his  church  lives.  As  I  understand  it,  virtues  are 
things  that  are  to  be  looked  for  in  the  life.  The  doctrine 
that  a  man  preaches  is  to  be  judged  of  by  what  his  peo- 
ple are." 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  93 

HUNDEEDS  of  men  fail  by  the  nervous  scrupulosity  by 
which  they  mean  to  prevent  failure.  For  we  do  best  the 
things  which  we  do  without  special  thinking.  Were  a 
man  to  attempt  to  walk  upon  a  beam  six  inches  wide, 
lifted  eighty  feet  above  the  ground,  he  would  begin  to 
think,  "  What  would  become  of  me  and  of  my  family  if  I 
should  fall  ?  He  would  endeavor  to  put  forth  skill  in 
walking ;  and  the  moment  he  did  that  his  steps  would  be 
loose,  tremulous,  and  uncertain.  But  lay  that  beam 
upon  the  ground,  and  he  would  walk  it  from  end  to  end 
as  if  it  had  the  width  of  the  whole  floor  in  its  six-inch  face. 
In  the  one  case  he  would  fall  because  he  took  so  much 
care,  and  in  the  other  case  he  would  succeed  because  he 
took  so  little  care. 


CHRISTIANITY  does  not  disdain  fear,  nor  conscience, 
nor  circumspection,  nor  watchfulness  against  evil.  It 
enforces  these  things  heartily  and  often.  But  they  are 
incidental.  It  relies  mainly  upon  the  direct  energy  of 
a  man's  faculties  in  things  that  are  good.  It  seeks  not 
to  repress  life,  and  keep  down  growth,  because  abun- 
dance of  being  is  more  difficult  to  restrain.  Rather,  it 
urges  men  to  seek  right  things  with  such  force,  and  with 
such  persistence,  that  no  strength  shall  be  left  for  wrong 
ones.  We  are  to  overcome  evil  by  doing  good,  and  by 
being  good. 

WE  blame  no  one  that  for  his  own  sake  he  keenly 
feels  the  pangs  of  separation  ;  but  we  do  wonder  that 
there  is  no  more  generosity  in  the  love  which  we  bear  to 
our  dear  ones,  and  that  the  full  and  glorious  certainties 
which  illumine  their  condition  when  they  have  passed 
beyond  us,  do  not  cast  back  some  light  of  joy  upon  our 


94  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

grief!  We  mourn  as  those  that  have  no  hope  ;  whereas 
our  mightiest  griefs  should  be  embosomed  in  hope  and 
calm  certainties  of  joy. 

You  sometimes  see  people  who  never  impress  you  as 
having  any  depth  of  moral  life,  any  richness  of  inward 
nature,  any  power  of  being,  either  in  heart  or  soul ;  but 
who  oppress  you  with  such  an  intolerable  conscientious- 
ness about  trifles,  that  you  almost  wish  that  they  would 
break  forth  into  violence,  into  anything  that  had  life  and 
grace  of  liberty  in  it !  They  step  so  many  inches  at  a 
pace ;  they  lift  their  hand  in  regulated  gestures ;  they 
drop  their  sentences  as  if  each  word  were  a  stiff  metallic 
type,  faced,  and  nicked,  and  registered.  The  tediousness 
of  such  men  is  almost  beyond  endurance.  They  are  no 
more  representative  of  true  Christian  conduct,  than  a 
dead  and  dry  stake  is  representative  of  a  living  tree. 


A  MAN  that  is  afraid  is  never  a  man.  A  man  may 
have  fear  as  a  speciality,  and  yet  be  manly  ;  but  where 
that  is  characteristic,  —  where  a  man  is  always  in  fear, 
— he  cannot  be  an  example  of  true  manliness.  There  is 
a  kind  of  fear  that  is  sweet.  It  is  the  fear  which  love 
begets  ;  this  is  that  "  fear  of  God  which  is  the  beginning 
of  wisdom."  That  tender,  tremulous  fear  that  we  shall 
not  do  all  that  we  ought  to  do,  or  all  that  we  wish  to  do, 
for  the  honor  and  the  pleasure  of  those  whom  we  love, 
,and  whose  life  is  more  to  us  than  our  own,  is  exquisite, 
elevating,  noble  ;  but  that  fear  which  drops  far  below  the 
sentiments,  and  moral  feelings,  and  affections,  and  that 
produces  a  state  of  antagonism  between  a  man's  lower 
interests  and  his  higher  feelings,  is  paralyzing,  demoral- 
izing, unmanly. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  95 

LET  all  your  things  be  done  in  love.  As  this  great 
rugged  globe,  with  all  its  jagged  hills,  hirsute  with  forests, 
shagged  all  over  with  bush  and  thicket,  and  rolling  in  an 
atmosphere  of  light,  seems  to  those  who  look  upon  it  in 
far-distant  planets  as  round,  and  smooth,  and  radiant  as 
their  bright  orbs  seem  to  us,  so  the  robust  and  rugged  as- 
pects of  a  true  manhood,  revolving  in  an  atmosphere  of 
Christian  love,  are  smoothed  and  softened  to  the  most  at- 
tractive beauty.  Strength  in  every  part,  and  love  round 
about  all,  is  the  receipt  for  manhood. 

WE  are  moving  away,  and  faster  as  every  cord  is 
loosed  that  binds  us  to  earth  ;  faster,  as  every  heart  that 
we  loved  draws  us  upward.  Let  us  rejoice.  And  as  in 
autumn  the  very  earth  prepares  for  death,  as  if  it  were 
its  bridal,  and  all  the  sober  colors  of  the  summer  take 
higher  hues,  and  trees  and  shrubs  and  vines  go  forth  to 
thei^rest,  wearing  their  most  gorgeous  apparel,  as  ending 
their  career  more  brightly  than  they  began  it ;  so  let  our 
spirits  cast  off  sombre  thoughts,  and  sable  melancholy, 
and  clothe  themselves  with  all  the  radiancy  of  faith; 
with  every  hue  of  heavenly  joy. 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord." 


THE  problem  of  human  life  has  in  the  natural  world 
many  illustrations ;  but  it  has  no  real  analogies.  We  are 
set,  at  the  first,  to  develop  an  animal  nature,  as  a  socket 
in  which  is  to  stand  the  spiritual,  burning  with  a  steady, 
guiding  light.  The  progressive  subjugation  of  the  lower 
part  of  our  nature  by  the  higher,  the  harmonization  of 
the  whole  round  about  a  central  spiritual  power,  —  this 
has  no  parallel  in  the  natural  world.  There  are  many 
tendencies  which  lead  toward  it,  which  point  at  it ;  but 


96  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

only  that.  The  death  of  seeds,  that  they  may  give  forth 
germs  ;  the  absorption  of  seminal  leaves,  that  the  new 
plant  between  them  may  thrive  from  their  stores;  then 
the  subordination  of  the  leaves  to  the  uses  of  the  blossom 
and  the  fruit,  so  that  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  all 
the  lower  organizations  and  functions  serve  and  lead 
toward  yet  higher,  and  the  very  plant  dies  in  ripening, 
leaving  its  fruit  or  its  seed  to  go  over  to  another  season, 
—  these  things,  I  say,  may  illustrate  the  spiritual  devel- 
opment of  character  out  of  a  physical  condition,  but  can 
do  no  more.  They  do  not  afford  an  analogue.  Man  is 
the  highest  divine  creative  development  upon  earth. 
That  which  is  the  characteristic  and  glorious  element  of 
manhood  is  our  spiritual  nature.  The  body  is  but  the 
temple ;  the  altar  fire  and  holy  service  are  within.  That 
which  is  our  real  life  can  be  seen  only  by  its  effects ; 
never  in  itself.  The  reality  of  our  life,  the  fulness  of  our 
being,  the  richness  of  God's  gift  to  us,  divine,  imn*>rtal, 
glorious,  is  invisible.  No  one  has  ever  seen  the  man 
that  is  in  man. 


MANY  persons  mistake  the  province  of  forethought  and 
calculation,  and  attempt  to  carry  themselves  in  the  details 
and  minute  particulars  of  life  by  them.  They  rigidly  in- 
spect every  act  and  experience,  as  though  every  act  and 
experience  must  be  taken  up  and  looked  at  conscien- 
tiously, and  narrowly,  and  watchfully.  They  go  about 
with  looks  precomposed.  They  are  sure  to  measure 
their  steps.  They  will  not  laugh  without  a  properly 
considered  reason.  If  some  wag  surprises  them  into  a 
laugh,  they  run  back  and  look  to  see  if  they  ought  to 
have  laughed.  Everything  in  them  seems  to  be  drawn 
out  as  tape  measures  are,  and  seems,  like  them,  to  have 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  97 

a  spring,  which  causes  it  to  fly  back  instantly,  and  to  be 
measured  off  into  inches  and  fractions  of  inches.  There 
is  nothing,  about  them  which  reminds  one  of  natural  clus- 
ters, or  tendrils,  or  moss,  or  wild-flowers.  Everything 
about  them  is  after  the  pattern  of  yardsticks,  and  sur- 
veyors' chains.  They  are  a  sort  of  conscientious  arith- 
metic. Their  mouth  acts,  not  as  flowers  do,  obedient  to 
the  sap  beneath ;  but  as  do  the  locks  of  safes  full  of  gold, 
into  which  a  formal  iron  key  must  needs  be  thrust  when- 
ever you  open  them.  Can  there  be  anything  in  this 
world  so  intolerable  as  the  doing  everything  on  purpose  ? 
He  is  a  nuisance  that  is  ever  self-poised,  self-conscious, 
self-measuring!  that  is  forever  studying  and  measuring 
God  and  the  universe  with  reference  to  Self.  Such 
complete  addiction  in  thought  and  deed  to  one's  self,  and 
to  what  concerns  him  alone,  is  the  quintessential  idea 
of  selfishness,  instead  of  manliness. 


THERE  is  an  infidel  "  don't  care,"  which  is  the  Devil's 
net  to  catch  the  heedless ;  and  there  is  a  Christian  "  don't 
care,"  which  is  a  cord  of  God  to  draw  men  toward  heaven. 
A  man  who  forms  a  purpose  which  he  knows  to  be  right, 
and  then  moves  forward  in  its  execution,  without  stopping 
to  inquire  whether  the  individual  steps  which  he  takes 
are  just  what  they  should  be,  and  without  caring  what 
their  immediate  consequences  may  be,  is  a  manly  man. 
There  are  a  hundred  that  will  repair  a  mistake  made  by 
such  a  man  where  there  is  one  that  will  repair  a  mistake 
made  by  one  always  fearing.  There  is  something  in 
human  nature  that  responds  to  manly  courage  wherever 
it  is  found. 


AH,  what   mean    Christians   coward    Christians   are ! 


98  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

They  are  not  fit  to  be  in  my  Father's  house.  A  man 
that  professes  to  be  an  heir  of  God,  forever  evading  or 
backing  out  of  difficulties,  forever  studying  to  know  how 
he  may  avoid  trouble,  I  am  ashamed  of  such  a  relation ! 
He  is  no  relation  of  mine.  He  does  not  belong  to  my 
Father.  He  has  none  of  my  blood  in  him ;  for  my  blood 
is  of  Christ.  A  man  that  is  afraid  of  right  and  its  con- 
sequences, of  justice  and  its  consequences,  and  of  man- 
hood and  its  consequences,  is  so  much  a  Christian,  that, 
of  all  sinners,  surely,  he  is  the  chief! 


CHRISTIAN  character  can  never  be  Scriptural  or  accord- 
ing to  the  Scripture  ideal,  which  is  only  an  inventory  of 
negatives.  There  is,  in  Christian  character,  much  that 
is  negative.  Unquestionably,  "  Thou  shalt  not "  consti- 
tutes a  very  large  part  of  the  Christian  teaching,  but 
"  Thou  shalt,"  a  much  larger  part.  It  is  very  important 
that  a  man  should  not  swear ;  that  he  should  not  lie ; 
that  he  should  not  gamble;  that  he  should  not  steal; 
that  he  should  not  drink  to  intoxication ;  and  that  he 
should  not  eat  to  gluttony.  We  are  to  build  these  neg- 
atives along  evil  ways,  like  fences  along  precipices. 
And  I  do  not  ridicule  nor  dissuade  from  negatives.  But 
some  seem  to  abide  in  them,  and  to  think  that  they  have 
met  the  requirements  of  religion  when  they  have  with- 
held themselves  from  positive  wrongs ;  whereas  we  are 
to  develop  the  actual  graces.  There  is  to  be  a  forthput- 
ting  in  things  that  are  right. 

It  is  not  good  husbandry  that  keeps  the  plough  going 
so  that  no  weeds  can  grow,  nor  anything  else.  Good 
husbandry  keeps  down  the  weeds,  to  be  sure,  but  does  it 
for  the  sake  of  letting  corn  grow.  And  there  must  be 
a  positive  crop  developed  of  virtue  before  all  the  con- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  99 

ditions  of  religion  are  fulfilled.  No  man  can  have  a 
manly  Christian  character  who  is  merely  reserved,  re- 
strictive, conservative ;  who  avoids  evil,  but  does  not 
produce  much  positive  good. 


THESE  qualities  of  truth  and  honor,  which  the  world 
appreciates  and  admires,  and  which  the  Bible  recognizes 
and  commends,  constitute  one  of  the  developments  of  a 
Christian  character.  If  you  have  these  qualities,  men, 
after  they  have  associated  with  you  for  years,  will  bear 
this  testimony  respecting  you  :  "  He  is  like  a  glass  bee- 
hive. You  can  always  see  what  his  motives  are.  He  is 
full  of  honey.  The  more  you  know  him,  the  better  you 
will  like  him.  He  is  true  and  honorable."  But  there 
are  men  who  are  like  another  kind  of  beehive,  —  one  in 
which  the  bees  are  all  dead,  and  there  is  nothing  left  ex- 
cept empty  comb,  and  miserable  moth-millers. 


THE  soul  is  formless,  is  shadowless.  No  eye  beholds 
it ;  no  hand  handles  it ;  no  pencil  may  draw  its  linea- 
ments. The  mother  that  gave  birth  to  her  child  ;  that 
overhung  the  cradle  ;  that  carried  her  babe  imbosomed  ; 
that  studied  the  girl's  girlhood,  youth,  and  womanhood, 
till  the  cloud  of  love  opened  and  hid  her  in  the  wedded 
life,  —  even  the  mother  does  not  know  the  girl  nor  the 
woman.  Nor  does  he  that  takes  her  know  her,  when  she 
is  taken  ;  nor  even  she  herself.  Our  life  is  hinted,  but  it 
is  hidden.  It  gleams  out  at  times  ;  it  flashes  in  -sparks 
upon  us.  None  has  seen  the  full  orb,  or  known  the  full 
measure  of  it.  We  stand  before  each  other  as  volumes 
of  books.  The  binding  and  lettering  are  plain  enough  ; 
the  contents  are  unknown,  or  but  dimly  suspected.  We 
are  like  books  in  which  some  things  are  to  be  hidden 


100  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

from  the  common  reader  as  unsafe,  and  at  every  few  par- 
agraphs the  critical  things  are  expressed  in  a  dead  lan- 
guage. So  in  human  life,  the  simplest  things  are  read ; 
the  interior  things  are  not  legible. 


THE  very  slender  hold  which  Christ  has  taken  of  our 
life  is  nowhere  else  shown  so  much  as  in  the  wantonness 
of  our  grief  and  surprise  at  the  death  of  our  beloved  ones. 
Why  should  they  not  die  ?  Were  they  given  to  us  that 
we  might  sequester  them  ?  Does  no  one  else  love  our 
children  but  ourselves  ?  Are  we  to  employ  our  love  as 
chains  and  bonds,  that  we  may  bind  them  forever  to 
the  earth  ?  Shall  we  girdle  them  with  our  selfishness  ? 
Were  they  sent  into  life  as  into  a  campaign  ?  and  shall 
we  mourn  that  the  battle  is  quickly  fought,  so  that  it  be 
victorious  ?  Were  they  sent  into  life  scholars  and  ap- 
prentices ?  and  shall  we  mourn  that  their  apprenticeship 
is  so  soon  ended,  and  their  indentures  broken ;  that  they 
are  so  soon  graduated  and  their  diplomas  awarded  ?  I 
have  never  seen  any  man  hanging  crape  upon  trees  be- 
cause the  blossoms  had  fallen,  that  the  fruit  might  swell ; 
but  I  se.e  people  putting  crape  upon  their  doors,  and 
upon  their  own  persons,  because  summer  has  come  soon- 
er to  their  children  and  their  companions  than  they 
thought. 

WHEN  men  have  lived  long,  and  outlived  strength  and 
activity,  we  do  not  marvel  that  they  die ;  but  we  think 
that  early  dying  is  mysterious.  That  God  might  en- 
wreath  the  year,  and  leave  not  one  moment  without  a 
blossom,  He  hath  appointed  flowers  for  every  period. 
Some  things  are  made  to  blossom  in  earliest  spring,  some 
in  latest;  some  in  early  summer,  some  in  midsummer. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  101 

Multitudes  are  appointed  for  the  autumn,  and  some  God 
sets  to  put  wreaths  on  the  very  brow  of  winter.  In  like 
manner,  there  are  different  periods  of  blossoming  out  of 
life. 


You  have  probably  noticed  that  when  men  walk  across 
a  stream  on  stilts,  if  they  look  at  their  feet  to  see  where 
they  step,  their  head  begins  to  swim,  and  very  soon  they 
have  to  swim  or  drown  ;  whereas,  if  they  fix  their  eye 
upon  a  single  object  on  the  opposite  bank,  and  never  look 
at  their  feet  at  all,  they  reach  the  other  side  in  safety. 
Now,  if  a  man  stands  looking  at  this  world,  he  gets  dizzy 
and  intoxicated,  and  falls  ;  whereas,  if  he  fixes  his  eye 
upon  the  bank  of  the  eternal  world,  he  walks  straighter 
in  this  world,  and  is  more  sure  of  reaching*  the  other  side 
in  safety. 

I  SEND  to  you,  my  congregation,  the  tidings  of  the  de- 
parture of  one  who  a  few  years  ago  was  gathered,  with 
a  great  multitude  besides,  into  the  membership  of  our 
church,  but  whom  God  hath  lifted  up  and  glorified  in  the 
church  of  the  first-born  in  heayen.  She  is  separated 
from  you  ;  but  even  more  from  me.  From  her  very 
youth  she  was  reared  under  my  eye,  and  in  such  endear- 
ing intimacy,  that  it  is  like  the  taking  of  one  of  my  own. 
She  went  forth  into  a  far  land,  but  -hath  gone  still  far- 
ther. Most  fair  was  she  in  going,  but  now  still  fairer. 
A  pilgrim,  she  sought  for  knowledge  and  for  beauty  in  a 
distant  land.  Better  knowledge  and  higher  beauty  she 
hath  found  in  a  better  land.  For  her  the  gate  of  heaven 
opened  forth  from  Italy.  The  old  city  of  Milan  has 
always  been  reverend  to  me,  with  venerable  associations 
of  history ;  but  hereafter,  when  its  name  is  mentioned,  not 


102  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

first  will  come  to  my  mind  its  galleries  rich  in  art ;  its 
architectural  structures ;  that  wondrous  cathedral,  that 
lifts  up  its  white  and  glittering  spires  and  pinnacles 
against  the  background  of  the  Alps :  hereafter,  to  me,  it 
is  the  city  from  whence  God  called  Annie  Howard  to 
that  more  glorious  city  whose  builder  and  whose  maker  is 
God.  Her  earthly  work  is  done.  The  education  of  tears, 
of  strifes,  of  sorrows  and  griefs,  is  suddenly  ended.  She 
was  nearer  perfect  than  we  knew,  since  God  saw  that  it 
required  but  to  change  the  climate,  and  the  fruit  was  ripe. 
A  character  that  seemed  destined  to  long  life  for  its 
necessary  development  is  now  rounded  up  and  completed 
in  the  bliss  and  blessedness  of  the  eternal  state.  Mourn- 
ers there  are,  but  we  are  not  of  them.  We  stand  and 
look  upon  that  shore  unwet  with  tears,  and  see  that  noth- 
ing hath  suffered  harm.  That  which  has  fallen  is  that 

O 

which  was  made  to  fall.  That  inward  life  hath  blos- 
somed and  ripened  far  beyond  the  reach  of  our  earthly 
knowing. 

THE  promise  of  God  is  not  this :  "  Do  you  declare 
what  you  want,  and  be  pious,  and  I  will  see  that  the 
plan  which  you  mark  out  is  filled  up."  He  does  not 
promise  that  if  we  will  draw  a  check,  filling  up  the  blank 
with  the  sum  which  we  want,  He  will  sign  His  name  to 
it.  And  for  this  simple  reason ;  men  are  fools,  and  God  is 
wise ;  and  He  will  not  permit  men  to  destroy  themselves. 
History  has  shown  that  if  men  could  have  their  own  way, 
if  they  could  have  their  wants  fulfilled,  it  would  be  the 
undoing,  I  will  not  say  of  ninety-nine  in  a  hundred,  but, 
probably,  of  every  one  of  us ;  and  therefore,  God,  who 
loves  us  so  well,  will  no  more  permit  us  to  mark  out  the 
things  which  we  are  to  have,  than  a  parent  will  say  to  a 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  103 

child,  "  What  do  you  want  ?  "  and  then  promise  to  give  it 
what  it  asks  for.  It  would  want  the  razors,  the  tempting 
bottles  of  medicine,  the  wine  and  brandy,  (till  it  had 
tasted  them  !)  and  such  like  things.  Therefore,  the  par- 
ent knows  that  it  is  not  best  that  it  should  be  allowed  to 
have  what  it  wants.  Till  it  ceases  to  be  a  child,  the  par- 
ent must  decide  what  it  shall  have. 


I  HAVE  no  doubt  that  the  Devil  overreaches  himself 
and  cheats  himself;  but  in  any  transaction  between  you 
and  him,  he  is  longer-headed  than  you  are.  And  if  a 
man  sells  his  principles  for  secular  prosperity,  he  shall 
find  in  the  end  that  the  writings  drawn  and  the  promises 
made  were  all  spurious.  Honesty  is  the  best  policy  ; 
and  of  honesty,  that  which  has  the  most  of  God  in  it  is 
the  best. 


IF  you  are  to  spend  your  life  as  a  poor  man,  you  can 
better  afford  to  be  poor  if  you  are  a  true  Christian,  than 
if  you  are  not.  If  you  are  to  spend  your  life  in  moderate 
circumstances,  those  circumstances  will  be  a  thousand 
times  better  to  you  if  you  are  a  true  Christian  than  if 
you  are  not.  If  you  are  to  attain  to  wealth,  or  to  emi- 
nence in  literature  or  statesmanship,  or  to  power,  or  to 
influence,  it  will  be  better  for  you  to  be  a  true  Christian 
than  for  you  not  to  be  one.  Wherever  you  are  to  be, 
and  whatever  you  are  to  be,  in  the  ordination  of  God's , 
providence,  a  spirit  of  Christian  manliness  will  be  a  help, 
and  not  a  hindrance,  to  you.  No  man  need  feel  that  he 
cannot  take  upon  himself  a  Christian  life  because  it  will 
stand  in  his  way ;  no  man  need  feel  that  it  is  necessary 
for  him  to  attend  so  exclusively  to  his  external  affairs 
that  he  has  not  time  to  look  after  religion;  for  Christ 


104  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

stands,  saying,  "  A  spirit  of  righteousness  such  as  God's 
kingdom  propounds  and  demands  is  every  way  favorable 
as  a  condition  of  success  and  of  happiness  in  human 
life." 


MEN  that  reject  religion  in  favor  of  indulgence,  do  not 
stand  any  chance  of  permanent  prosperity.  Such  men 
are  like  gypsies  that,  by  some  freak  of  fortune,  are  turned 
into  a  magnificent  mansion,  well  built,  well  furnished, 
and  well  stored  with  works  of  art.  These  gypsies  go 
to  work  and  break  to  pieces  the  exquisitely  carved  fur- 
niture, pull  down  the  rare  pictures,  and  strip  the  house 
of  all  the  valuable  things  in  it,  and  burn  them,  in  order 
to  make  their  pot  boil,  and  thus  to  serve  their  lower 
nature,  until,  by  and  by,  the  whole  dwelling  is  desolate, 
and  bleak,  and  barren.  And  men  who  reject  religion 
and  serve  their  passions,  are  doing  the  same  thing.  They 
are  kindling  those  lower  fires  at  the  expense  of  every- 
thing broad,  and  fine,  and  beautiful  in  their  higher  na- 
ture. And  though  the  process  may  go  on  with  some 
sort  of  success  for  a  little  time,  it  will  not  be  long  be- 
fore they  will  be  as  bankrupt  in  secular  things  as  they 
are  in  spiritual.  The  cases  that  are  exceptions  to  this 
are  rare. 


IT  was  a  remarkable  saying  of  One  of  the  Revolution- 
ary heroes,  when  Congress,  instead  of  passing  a  bill  for 
more  soldiers,  recommended  a  day  for  fasting  and  prayer, 
that  there  might  be  a  good  deal  in  fasting  and  prayer,  but 
he  had  noticed  that  God's  providence  was  on  the  side  of 
strong  regiments.  I  have  noticed  that  God's  providence 
is  on  the  side  of  clear  heads.  I  believe  that  there  is  a  good 
deal  in  God's  providence  in  this  regard :  that  wherever  a 


'ROYAL  TRUTHS.  105 

man  walks  faithfully  in  the  ways  which  God  has  marked 
out  for  him,  providence,  as  the  Christian  says,  —  luck,  as 
the  heathen  says,  —  will  be  on  that  man's  side ;  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  fire  and  water,  and  wind  and  earth,  and 
all  the  seasons,  will  work  into  the  hands  of  a  man  who 
refuses  to  walk  in  the  ways  which  God  has  marked  out  for 
him.  In  a  long  run  you  will  find  that  God's  providence 
is  in  favor  of  those  that  keep  His  laws,  and  against  those 
that  break  them. 


As  we  know  the  odorous  vines  of  rare  and  exquisite 
flowers  which  are  grown  behind  high,  opaque  garden 
walls  only  by  the  fragrance  which  they  waft  to  us  through 
the  air,  while  they  themselves  are  invisible  ;  so  are  we 
conscious  of  the  heavenly  and  spiritual  elements  of  noble 
natures  about  us,  rather  by  their  effects  upon  us,  than  by 
any  open  spectacle  of  them. 


.  I  HAVE  taken  notice  that  upon  the  tops  of  our  churches 
which  have  steeples  they  put  weathercocks  ;  and  I  have 
taken  notice  that  those  weathercocks  run  their  nose 
around  hither  and  thither  with  the  wind  the  whole  year. 
You  can  tell  by  our  churches  which  way  the  wind  blows. 
But  I  have  taken  notice  that  while  these  weathercocks 
revolve  around,  there  is  an  iron  rod  on  which  they  are 
fastened  that  stands  pointing,  in  storm  and  sunshine,  by 
night  and  by  day,  straight  up  toward  where  God  lives. 
Men  are  the  weathercocks  in  human  affairs,  and  we  are 
apt  to  look  at  them,  and  not  to  see  the  heaven-pointing 
iron  finger.  Men  that  look  only  at  these  weathercocks 
are  always  shifting  in  their  moods  and  expectations.  If 
we  would  but  look  higher  than  these,  to  Him  that  lets 
the  winds  blow,  and  holds  them  in  His  hands,  we  should 

5* 


f 
106  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

not  be  subject  to  such  mutations,  such  fears,  such  expec- 
tations of  disasters,  such  troubles. 


No  truths  that  are  distinct  from  matter,  and  are  in 
their  nature  spiritual,  ever  seem  so  full  and  perfect  when 
you  have  embodied  them  in  words,  as  when  they  exist 
merely  in  the  form  of  ideas ;  and  we  are  forever  restat- 
ing them,  hoping  to  clothe  them  in  stronger  words  and  to 
present  them  to  the  mind  and  heart  with  yet  clearer 
impress.  But  you  never  can  do  it.  You  never  can  in- 
carnate a  thought  perfectly.  It  is  too  much  for  words. 
And  much  less  can  you  incarnate  one  principle  that  un- 
derlies another. 


THERE  is  no  such  thing  as  immediatism.  Immediatism 
is  the  fool's  philosophy.  Cause  and  effect  are  universal ; 
and  between  all  growths  there  must  be  room  for  the  lev- 
erage of  causation.  There  is  nothing  to  which  this  truth 
is  more  applicable  and  important  than  this  :  that  all  de- 
velopment of  the  soul  toward  character  takes  place  little 
by  little.  To-day  in  one  direction,  to-morrow  in  another ; 
to-day  by  one  instrumentality,  to-morrow  by  another ; 
and  what  the  whole  of  these  accumulating  parts  and 
results  is  to  be  doth  not  yet  appear.  It  is  an  invisible 
process.  It  is  a  growth  by  parts  toward  a  whole ;  but 
a  growth  which  to  the  end  of  this  life  will  still  remain 
fragmentary. 

Look  upon  some  building  in  process  of  construction. 
All  round  about  it  are  stones  disconnected.  The  archi- 
tect knows  for  what  they  were  cut,  but  you  do  not.  Wheth- 
er it  is  cornice  or  window-cap,  whether  it  is  top  of  this 
column  or  of  that,  you  do  not  know.  Vast  timbers,  in 
the  framer's  mind  fitted  for  their  places,  and  brought 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  107 

together  here,  give  to  your  eye  no,  indication  of  their 
function  or  their  position.  They  lie  around  in  their 
several  heaps.  As  the  workmen  hoist  them  to  their 
places,  some  order  seems  to  begin.  Yet  it  doth  not  ap- 
pear what  the  whole  is  to  be ;  nor  will  the  beauty  and 
fairness  of  the  whole  appear  until  it  is  completed.  And 
what  a  building  is  whose  materials  are  gathered  and  gath- 
ering ready  for  construction,  that  is  man  in  this  world, 
—  a  creature  whose  parts  are  yet  under  the  hammer. 
This  virtue,  that  grace  ;  this  self-denial,  that  restriction  ; 
this  courage,  that  patience  ;  this  faith,  that  love ;  this 
sentiment,  that  affection,  —  all  these  varied  elements, 
touched  now  by  one  instrument,  and  now  by  another, 
form,  little  by  little,  but  never  shaped  into  a  whole  in 
this  world,  that  structure  which  is  to  rise  into  perfectness 
in  the  other  life. 


.No  man  is  a  Christian  in  any  typical  sense  of  the  term ; 
no  man  presents  a  type  of  Christianity,  who  lives  simply 
by  force  of  duty.  If  there  is  no  love  in  you ;  if  there 
are  no  bubbles  that  reflect  heaven  before  they  break  ;  if 
there  is  no  singing  joy ;  if  there  is  no  cheerfulness ;  if 
there  is  no  spontaneousness  ;  if  there  is  no  automatic  life, 
then,,  although  you  may  be  a  Christian,  you  are  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  same  sense  in  which  a  chicken  is  a  bird  when 
it  is  just  breaking  the  shell,  when  it  cannot  run,  nor  fly, 
nor  do  anything  except  peep.  You  are  like  an  unfledged 
robin  in  the  nest.  And  how  different  is  the  robin  that  is 
grown,  and  that  can  mount  up  and  make  circles  through 
the  air  in  its  flight.  The  peculiarity  of  Christian  life  in 
its  characteristic  elements,  is,  that  it  has  so  taken  God  to 
be  its  Father,  arid  Christ  to  be  its  elder  brother  and  Sav- 
iour, and  the  service  of  God  in  all  purity  and  nobleness  to 


108  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

be  its  delight,  that  it  becomes  spontaneous.     It  is  joyful 
living !  not  drudgery,  nor  even  duty. 


BEFORE  you  can  tell  whether  a  man  is  prosperous  or 
not,  you  must  go  into  the  man  himself;  you  must  go  and 
see  how  he  lives  in  his  soul ;  you  must  go  and  see  what 
his  secret  thoughts  are.  I  tell  you  there  is  more  joy  to 
many  a  pauper  who  looks  at  the  sun  and  the  grass  and 
the  flowers,  and  listens  to  the  birds  from  the  almshouse 
window,  than  there  is  to  many  a  millionnaire.  I  have 
known  a  good  many  of  these  rich  men.  I  always  make 
friends  with  them,  that  I  may  find  out  what  sort  of  men 
they  are,  what  kind  of  a  life  they  live,  and  how  they  en- 
joy themselves.  I  was  very  much  struck  by  a  fact  that 
was  related  to  me  of  a  very  rich  man  —  he  is  well  known 
in  New  York,  but  I  will  not  mention  his  name  —  by  his 
agent.  Said  he,  "  I  have  often  heard  him  turn  in  his  bed 
in  the  night,  saying,  '  O  God !  O  God !  O  God !  When 
will  it  be  morning  ?  "  It  did  me  good  !  "When  a  man 
has  built  his  bed  out  of  hard  gold,  he  does  not  sleep  any 
easier  than  he  would  if  he  had  built  it  of  iron  or  stone. 
When  a  man  builds  his  life  out  of  metals,  he  must  have 
a  metallic  life. 


HE  is  rich  who  is  inwardly  rich.  He  is  poor  who  is 
inwardly  poor.  He  is  prosperous  for  whose  spiritual  cul- 
ture all  things  work  together.  In  the  vineyard,  we  meas- 
ure the  cluster;  not  the  leaves  and  the  rank-growing 
vine.  And  it  is  the  fruit  that  we  must  measure  in  men. 
They  that  care  for  the  body  only,  are  like  gardeners  who 
fill  their  conservatory  with  flower-pots,  and  these  with 
compost,  but  forget  to  put  seeds  therein,  or.  flowers. 
Dirt  and  pottery  are  all  the  flowers  they  have. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  109 

FOR  the  most  part,  natures  rich  in  moral  elements 
have  risen  only  so  far  above  the  world  as  to  be  able  to 
brootl  over  it ;  to  cloud  it  with  sadness ;  to  rain  down 
upon  it  some  drops  of  cheerless  sorrow.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  it  be  a  blessing  to  receive  such  an  endowment 
as  makes  the  world  too  poor  to  live  in,  and  yet  reveals 
no  other  world,  and  no  better  sphere. 


"  STAND  fast  in  the  faith."  There  are  some  men  who, 
because  they  want  to  grow,  are  continually  being  trans- 
planted ;  and  they  think  that,  because  they  keep  moving 
from  place  to  place,  they  are  gaining ;  but  they  gain 
nothing  at  all.  Trees  that  grow  fastest  stand  stillest. 
Running  after  every  new  thing  that  presents  itself  does 
not  increase  the  growth  of  Christian  graces,  or  anything 
else  that  is  good.  If  a  man  would  grow  spiritually,  he 
must  have  a  stand-point,  a  fixed  root-place,  for  his  relig- 
ious convictions. 


WHAT  do  you  want  ?  Torpor  ?  listless  indifference  ? 
the  quietness  of  men  that  preludes  spiritual  death?  or 
times  when  there  is  such  a  sensibility  of  conscience,  such 
a  rousing  of  universal  attention,  when  the  hearts  of  men 
are  waked  up  by  the  presence  and  power  of  God,  until 
men  feel  that  life  is  earnest,  and  realize  that  there  is 
tremendous  sweep  and  importance  in  moral  principles  ? 
Are  not  these  times  in  which  men  ought  to  wish  to  live  ? 
What  if,  here  and  there,  trade  and  property  go  down? 
Nothing  goes  down  till  manhood  goes  down  ;  and  noth- 
ing goes  up  that  does  not  take  manhood  up.  It  is  a 
painful  thing  to  lose  property,  and  it  is  a  painful  thing  to 
be  in  disagreement  with  our  fellows :  but  these  are  not  the 
worst  things  that  can  befall  a  community,  if  they  lead  to 


110  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

nobler  citizenship,  a  higher  public  spirit,  a  purer  admin- 
istration of  affairs,  and  a  more  universal  justice.  Are 
not  these  the  things  for  which  we  have  been  living? 
Have  you  not,  many  of  you,  been  praying,  "  Thy  king- 
dom come  "  ?  And  when  God's  kingdom  comes,  crowns 
go  down.  The  king  said,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  and  down 
went  his  throne.  The  aristocrat  said  it,  and  down  went 
his  aristocracy.  The  old  inquisitor  said  it,  and  down 
went  the  Inquisition.  They  prayed,  "  Thy  kingdom 
come,"  and  God  took  them  at  their  word;  forth  camo 
the  people,  back  shrunk  their  oppressors !  They  ran  to 
hold  the  kingdom  down,  while  yet  they  prayed,  "  Let  it 
come."  Tyrants  would  be  infidels  if  they  knew  what  the 
New  Testament  really  means.  When  priests  read  it, 
they  find  much  in  it  that  God  never  put  there.  The 
Bible  is  like  a  noble  mansion  built  for  God's  people.  It 
has  been  wrested  from  them.  It  has  been  held  by  cun- 
ning priests  and  plotting  despots.  It  is  full  of  the  slime 
of  their  wicked  interpretations.  Priests  that  believe 
God's  Word  to  be  a  bulwark  of  oppression,  are  jealous  of 
its  authority.  They  pray  for  its  spread.  They  pray  for 
that  kingdom  in  which  they  are  to  be  terrific  kings  and 
priests.  But  God  sends  them  insurrections,  revolutions, 
democracies,  and  free  states. 


No  man  has  known  himself  until  he  has  known  Christ. 
Our  own  will  has  no  potency,  and  our  own  affections 
have  but  little  power  to  develop  our  spiritual  life.  This 
is  a  Divine  work.  No  man  has  ever  known  himself 
except  through  the  experiences  of  faith,  of  ecstatic  love, 
of  holy  aspiration,  of  that  self-renunciation  which  comes 
with  the  hijrher  forms  of  love. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  HI 

IF  God  should  refuse  to  interrupt  the  course  of  men, 
they  would  scarcely  know  the  strength  of  their  resistance 
to  Him.  It  is  not  when  the  cable  lies  coiled  up  on  the 
deck  that  you  know  how  strong  or  how  weak  it  is  ;  it  is 
when  it  is  put  to  the  test,  and  is  made  to  sing  like  the 
chord  of  a  harp,  in  times  when  the  ship  is  imperilled,  and 
the  waves  are  beating  fiercely  against  it.  And  it  is  only 
when  men  are  brought  to  the  test  that  they  can  tell  what 
their  real  nature  is,  or  how  strong  their  instincts  and 
passions  are. 

THERE  are  a  great  many  persons  that  want  to  be  Chris- 
tians, who  have  no  idea  of  Christianity,  except  that  it  is 
something  sombre,  which  is  to  be  endured,  rather  than  to 
be  enjoyed.  They  think  they  would  prefer  being  Chris- 
tians to  being  damned.  They  are  so  afraid  of  the  future, 
they  have  such  a  sense  of  immortality,  that  the  thought 
of  venturing  upon  the  other  life  without  some  hope  of 
salvation,  is  terrible. to  them.  So  they  say,  "I  am  will- 
ing to  undergo  whatever  there  may  be  that  is  unpleasant 
in  religion,  for  the  sake  of  securing  my  eternal  welfare  " ; 
and  they  go  to  priests,  and  humble  themselves  before 
altars,  and  avail  themselves  of  every  conceivable  means 
of  grace  that  is  presented  to  them,  that  they  may  escape 
into  the  purity  and  liberty  of  life  hereafter. 

O,  poor,  misguided  man !  You  are  called,  not  unto 
bondage  :  you  are  called  unto  liberty, —  only  use  not  lib- 
erty for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh.  God  summons  you,  — 
and  he  summons  you,  not  as  a  master  summons  his  slave, 
but  as  a  father  summons  his  child.  That  voice  which 
sounded  on  Calvary,  having  gone  up  to  heaven,  comes  in- 
flected back  in  tones  of  cheer  and  love,  and  hope  and  glad- 
ness, and  calls  you:  and  Christ — ever-living,  not  now  on 


112  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

earth  a  man  of  sorrows,  acquainted  with  grief,  but  in 
heaven  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  —  says,  "  My  son,  give 
toe  thine  heart "  ;  and  this  being  given,  He  says,  "  Now 
enter  into  all  the  royalty  .of  my  possession  and  domain. 
Thou,  as  my  child,  art  also  heir  with  me  to  an  eternal 
inheritance.  Thou  art  to  be  a  king  and  a  priest  before 
God." 

Yes,  when  you  are  called  to  be  a  Christian,  you  are 
called  unto  liberty.  You  are  not  called  as  convicts  to  do 
penal  service  in  a  spiritual  penitentiary.  You  are  called, 
rather,  to  the  freedom,  the  largeness,  the  sweetness,  and 
the  manliness,  of  a  nobler  character  than  ever  dawned  on 
the  imagination  of  heathen  poet.  To  be  a  true  man  ac- 
cording to  the  ideal  of  the  New  Testament,  is  to  have  a 
heart  full  of  faith  and  confidence  in  God,  and  to  have  all 
that  liberty  which  love  begets  in  a  child  that  dares  to 
look  his  father  in  the  face,  and  call  him  by  the  most 
familiar  names. 


A  MAN  cannot  do  his  duty  because  he  must  save  the 
Church !  Now  the  Church  is  of  no  more  account  than  a 
straw,  except  for  the  justice  and  the  truth  that  are  in  it. 
When  you  have  sacrificed  real  piety  for  the  sake  of  saving 
the  Church,  you  have  killed  a  man  and  got  a  corpse. 


A  GREAT  many  have  a  superstitious  feeling  about  read- 
ing the  Bible.  It  is  the  effect  that  reading  the  Bible  has 
on  a  man's  life  and  conduct  that  makes  it  beneficial  to 
Trim ;  but  there  is  an  impression  that  a  man  has  but  to 
read  it  to  be  benefited  by  it  So  men  carry  texts  as 
Indians  carry  amulets,  with  the  superstitious  idea  that 
God  will  bless  them  to  their  good.  The  mere  reading 
of  the  Bible,  or  carrying  of  texts,  will  not  do  you  any 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  113 

good.  A  man  may  own  a  farm,  and  yet  go  to  the  poor- 
house.  A  man  may  be  so  rich  in  land  that  a  tenth  part 
of  what  it  is  capable  of  producing  would  be  sufficient  to 
support  him,  and  yet  want  the  necessaries  of  life.  His 
land  must  be  cultivated,  or  it  will  do  him  no  good. 


A  MAN  is  not  prosperous  because  he  makes  money, 
because  he  is  skilful,  or  because  he  has  knowledge.  That 
man  who  is  happy ;  that  man  whose  mind  is  like  a  well- 
chorded  harp,  and  is  responsive  to  enjoyment ;  that  man 
who  knows  how  to  enjoy  with  his  intellect,  with  his  moral 
sentiments,  with  his  taste  ;  that  man  who  knows  how  to 
reap  joy  from  all  his  social  affections ;  that  man  who 
knows  how  to  stand  strong  without  being  debauched  by 
his  animal  passions  ;  that  man  who  knows  how  to  regu- 
late his  physical  life ;  that  man  who  has  supreme  use  of 
himself  all  through ;  that  man  who  is  happy  in  the  broad- 
est way,  and  with  the  greatest  number  of  fountains  of  en- 
joyment, —  that  man  is  prosperous.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  man  may  be  a  ripe  scholar  and  a  rich  man,  and  not  be 
prosperous.  A  man  may  be  a  millionnaire,  and  yet  be  so 
miserable  as  to  groan  all  day  and  curse  all  night.  A  man 
may  have  all  the  outside  things  which  the  world  affords, 
and  yet  not  be  a  happy  man.  One  man  may  have  a  chest 
full  of  excellent  tools,  and  be  a  bungling  workman ;  while 
another  man  may  have  nothing  but  a  jack-knife,  and  be 
a  skilful  workman.  One  man  may  have  ever  so  many 
external  means  of  enjoyment,  and  be  miserable ;  while 
another  man  may  have  scarcely  any  external  means  of 
enjoyment,  and  be  happy.  You  must  not,  therefore, 
argue  that  a  man  is  prosperous  because  he  has  influence, 
or  power,  or  money,  or  any  of  these  things.  If  you  want 
to  know  who  are  prosperous,  find  out  who  are  happy. 


114  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

You  would  think  to  look  at  that  bell  up  in  the  belfry, 
"  O,  such  a  bell,  lifted  up  so  high,  —  it  only  needs  that 
some  one  should  pull  the  rope  to  make  it  sound  gloriously 
through  the  air ! "  Well,  pull  the  rope ;  it  sounds  for  all 
the  world  like  a  tin  pan !  It  is  cracked.  I  see  men  in 
the  old  belfry  of  prosperity ;  and  other  men  are  looking 
up  at  them  and  saying,  "  0  how  happy  they  must  be ! " 
You  will  find  them  to  be  good  for  nothing  the  moment 
you  subject  them  to  that  test. 


WE  know  that  the  gifts  which  men  have  do  not  come 
from  the  schools.  If  a  man  is  a  plain,  literal,  factual 
man,  you  can  make  a  great  deal  more  of  him  in  his  own 
line  by  education  than  without  education,  just  as  you  can 
make  a  great  deal  more  of  a  potato  if"  you  cultivate  it 
than  if  you  do  not  cultivate  it ;  but  no  cultivation  in  this 
world  will  ever  make  an  apple  out  of  a  potato.  It  can 
be  developed,  but  it  must  be  developed  according  to  the 
laws  of  its  own  nature.  Education  will  make  it  more, 
but  will  not  change  its  nature.  If  a  man  was  not  born 
eloquent,  he  cannot  be  bred  to  eloquence  ;  if  a  man  was 
not  born  to  a  sense  of  color,  he  cannot  be  educated  to  a 
sense  of  color ;  if  a  man  was  not  born  to  a  sense  of  form, 
he  cannot  be  educated  to  a  sense  of  form ;  if  a  man  was 
not  born  to  a  quick  creative  genius,  he  cannot  be  trained 
to  it.  Where  these  things  exist,  they  are  gifts  in  the 
beginning.  Education  makes  them  better  and  more  usa- 
ble ;  but  it  can'not  create  in  men  what  God  did  not  create 
in  them  when  He  started  them  in  life. 


THERE  is  not  a  man  that  cannot  be  made  to  sin  in  one 
way  or  another.  Some  men  can  by  lust ;  some  cannot 
by  that,  but  can  by  avarice ;  some  cannot  by  that,  but 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  115 

can  by  ambition ;  some  cannot  by  that,  but  can  by  vani- 
ty ;  some  cannot  by  that,  but  can  by  pride ;  some  cannot 
by  that,  but  can  by  superstition  ;  some  cannot  by  that, 
but  can  by  the  weakness  of  sentiment ;  some  cannot  by 
that,  but  can  by  the  scruples  of  conscience.  Even  men 
that  are  in  the  most  propitious  circumstances,  even  men 
that  are  hedged  in  by  Christian  organizations,  and  moral 
sentiments,  and  Gospel  sentiments,  and  every  instrumen- 
tality calculated  to  shield  them  from  the  evil  influences  of 
the  world,  are  perpetually  breaking  through  and  over 
these  safeguards,  and  yielding  to  temptation. 


THE  vital  difference  between  heathenism  and  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah,  as  established  and  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  history,  was  in  reality  the  difference  between 
lust  and  virtue  ;  between  gross,  sensuous  indulgence  and 
a  moral,  pure,  economic  life.  The  vital  force  of  idolatry 
was  its  orgies,  —  not  its  theology  or  mythology. 


WE  live  in  the  midst  of  vulgarities ;  little  petty  troub- 
les ;  a  thousand  mechanical  things  that  have  not  much 
juice  in  them.  The  greatest  part  of  our  life  is  spent  in 
contact  with  things  that  have  very  little  in  themselves  to 
reward  our  sensibility.  We  must,  therefore,  have  some- 
thing in  the  soul  to  make  them  glorious. 

Walk  in  the  midst  of  sunlight,  and  find  me,  if  you  can, 
one  thing  that  is  homely.  The  vine  that  has  lost  its 
leaves,  and  is  without  beauty;  the  leafless  tree,  that 
stands  homely ;  the  bare  post ;  the  dry  stick ;  the  moss- 
covered  stone  ;  the  old  tumble-down  rookery,  —  these 
are  luminous  and  beautiful  in  the  sunlight. 

Now,  the  sun  can  pour  beauty  on  things  that  have  no 
beauty  of  their  own ;  and  there  is  nothing  that  has  not 


116  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

the  power  to  take  beauty  when  poured  upon  it.  And 
God  makes  the  human  soul  that  loves  Christ  to  be  filled 
with  such  a  power  of  hope  and  faith  and  love  and  joy  and 
enthusiasm,  that  when  they  pour  it  out  on  daily  life  it 
makes  things  luminous  and  beautiful. 


WHERE  a  man  turns  from  evil,  and  takes  hold  on  good, 
there  is  to  be  more  than  meditation  or  wishing  or  willing; 
there  is  to  be  expression.  Even  thinking  cannot  be  clear 
until  it  has  had  expression.  We  must  write,  or  speak,  or 
act  our  thoughts,  or  they  will  remain  in  a  kind  of  half 
torpid  form.  Our  kinder  feelings  must  have  some  ex- 
pression, or  they  will  roll  out  of  the  mind  as  clouds  roll 
out  of  a  hemisphere.  Our  kinder  feelings  must  rain,  or 
else  they  will  never  bring  up  fruit  or  flower.  So  it  is 
with  all  the  inward  feelings  ;  expression  gives  them  full 
development.  Thought  is  the  blossom ;  action  is  the 
fruit  right  behind  it. 


O,  HOW  easy  it  is  for  a  man's  lips  to  say,  "  Thy  will 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven !  "  A  red-hot  plough- 
share running  among  the  roots  in  your  garden,  would  not 
be  more  blasting  to  them,  than  the  will  of  God  —  if  it 
were  done  in  your  nature  —  would  be  to  your  pride,  your 
avarice,  your  idolatrous  affections,  your  lusts,  your  appe- 
tites, your  passions.  And  would  you  dare  to  open  the 
doors  and  chambers  of  your  soul,  and  say,  understanding 
what  you  did,  "  Walk  in,  thou  Prince  of  glory,  thou  holi- 
est One,  and  let  Thy  will  be  done  in  me  !  "  Would  you 
dare  to  go  home  to  your  household,  and  ask  that  God's 
will  might  be  done  there  ?  Would  you  be  willing  to  have 
God  come  into  your  business,  and  to  have  His  will  rectify 
your  journals,  and  ledgers,  and  bargains  ?  Are  you  pre- 


ROYAL 'TRUTHS.  117 

pared  to  submit  your  papers,  and  plans,  and  ambitions  to 
God,  and  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done  in  all  these  things "  ? 
Could  you  take  the  infinite  crookedness  of  your  daily 
life,  and  say  to  God,  "  Straighten  this  "  ?  Have  you  come 
to  that  state  in  which  you  can  say  to  God,  "  I  am  blind, 
and  Thou  art  all-seeing;  Thy  will  be  done  concerning 
me  "  ?  It  would  be  like  hell  and  damnation  to  men,  to 
let  God's  will  come  with  power  and  rectification  into 
their  practical  lives ! 

EXPEDIENTS  are  for  an  hour ;  but  Principles  are  for 
the  ages.  Just  because  the  rains  descend,  and  winds 
blow,  we  cannot  afford  to  bond  on  shifting  sands. 


THE  child  that  is  at  school,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
term,  jealously  prepares  his  little  bow  and  arrows,  and 
traps,  and  springs,  and  riddles,  and  puzzles,  and  what  not. 
Then,  they  are  choice  treasures  to  him,  and  he  mourns  if 
anything  befalls  them.  But  when  the  last  days  of  the 
term  come,  how  generous  he  is  in  distributing  them.  He 
tosses  them  to  one  and  another  of  his  companions,  saying, 
"Here  you  may  have  them  if  you  want  them:  I  do -not 
want  them  any  more."  He  is  glad  to  get  rid  of  them. 
The  things  that  a  month  or  two  ago  he  guarded  sedulous- 
ly in  his  treasure-chamber,  now  have  no  value  to  him ; 
for  the  hunger  of  father  and  mother  is  on  him.  He  says 
to  himself,  "  Day  after  to-morrow  I  am  off" ;  and  he 
cannot  eat,  nor  sleep,  nor  play,  such  is  the  excitement 
which  he  feels  at  the  prospect  of  going  home  so  soon. 

Now  what  home-sickness  is  to  the  child  away  at  school, 
that  to  the  soul  is  heaven-sickness,  which  sets  usTree  from 
the  ten  thousand  joys  and  sorrows  of  this  world,  if  we  real- 
ly are  heaven-sick.  * 


118  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

How  little  you  know  what  will  be  the  effect  of  what 
you  do  when  you  cast  that  little  black  seed  of  a  poison- 
ous plant  into  the  ground.  It  looks  as  fine  as  a  seed  of 
the  most  harmless  flower;  but  how  little  do  you  know 
what  it  will  come  to.  How  little  do  you  know  what  the 
plant  will  be  from  the  seed.  And  so  shall  it  be  with  the 
human  soul  that  grows  and  grows  in  pride,  in  selfishness, 
and  in  hostility  to  the  Divine  will.  Such  a  soul  drops 
into  death  as  the  seed  drops  into  the  open  furrow.  Its 
root  shall  come  forth  again,  it  shall  lift  up  its  trunk  again, 
it  shall  grow  again  ;  but,  oh !  who  can  tell  what  that 
growth  may  come  to?  To  what  will  the  unregenerate 
man  come  when  he  grows  in  the  soil  of  another  life  ?  If 
in  all  our  developments  here  we  are  but  seeds,  to  what 
states  of  wickedness  shall  we  come  in  that  land  where  all 
restraints  are  removed  from  men,  and  they  are  left  to  be 
swept  on  by  the  whole  force  and  impetus  of  their  de- 
praved natures  ? 

I  THINK  that  many  people  take  their  troubles  by  the 
imagination.  I  think  that  more  than  half  that  we  suffer 
through  fear  of  troubles,  is  that  which  we  are  made  to 
suffer  by  magnifying  them.  You  suffer  ten  times  as 
much  in  thinking  about  having  your  tooth  drawn  as  you 
do  in  having  it  drawn.  I  do  not  think  the  surgeon's 
knife,  in  whipping  through  the  flesh  and  around  the  bone, 
gives  half  as  much  pain  as  the  patient  suffers  in  thinking 
about  having  the  operation  performed.  "We  take  our 
troubles,  and  turn  them  over,  and  look  at  them ;  we  im- 
agine what  form  they  will  assume  under  such  and  such 
circumstances ;  we  make  an  inventory  of  them ;  we  mus- 
ter them,  and  call  the  roll,  and  put  them  in  order,  and 
march  them  first  this  way  and  then  that ;  we  annoy  our- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  119 

selves  with  them  as  much  as  possible.  Men  are  infer- 
nally ingenious  in  tormenting  themselves  with  troubles 
which,  ninety-nine  times  in  a  hundred,  have  no  existence 
except  in  their  imagination.  For  although  there  are 
such  things  as  troubles,  generally  speaking  those  things 
that  hurt  are  things  that  we  do  not  imagine  are  going  to 
hurt.  When  grief  puts  its  harness  on  a  man,  the  place 
where  it  rubs  and  binds  is  not  where  there  are  pads,  but 
where  there  are  no  pads ;  the  place  where  it  bears  heav- 
ily is  where  he  has  make  no  provision  for  it. 


THERE  is  a  point  of  application  to  persons  who  suppose 
that  mere  reformation  is  all  that  is  required  of  a  man  that 
is  sinful,  and  that  the  more  radical  doctrine  of  being  born 
again  is  characteristic  of  olden  times,  and  is  not  needed 
now.  If  the  very  direction  of  your  life  is  wrong,  if  the 
very  cast  of  your  character  is  wrong,  if  you  are  wrong  to 
the  very  foundation  of  your  being,  then  no  mere  varnish- 
ing no  mere  whitewashing,  no  mere  changing  of  external 
decorations  is  sufficient  for  you.  You  need  to  be  built 
over  again  from  bottom  to  top.  It  is  the  testimony  of 
Christ,  the  mild  speaker,  the  sweet  and  loving  One, 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God."  The  change  fhat  must  be  made  in  you  is  one 
that  starts  a  man  over  again  in  life.  And  how  blessed  to 
me  is  this  fact.  My  heart  leaps  up,  sometimes,  at  the 
thought  of  it.  When  I  see  men  reeling  and  staggering 
with  wickedness,  striving  with  vices  and  crimes,  struck 
through  with  the  leprosy  of  sin,  how  blessed  it  is  to  me 
to  be  able  to  say  to  them,  ^  You  can  have  another  chance 
in  life  ;  you  may  throw  away  all  the  past,  and  begin  anew ; 
you  may  be  born  again,  like  a  little  child,  and  start  afresh, 
in  spiritual  life,  as  if  you  had  never  lived ! "  How 


120  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

blessed  and  encouraging  to  those  who  are  weary  of  the 
burden  of  their  sins,  and  discouraged  at  every  attempt  to 
make  themselves  better  by  successive  upbuilding,  is  this 
doctrine  of  a  new  birth,  so  deep,  so  efficient,  that  it 
changes  a  man's  will,  from  one  of  insubordination,  to  one 
of  submission,  to  the  Divine  will !  We  are  diseased  with 
sin,  and  we  need  a  remedy  as  comprehensive  and  thorough 
as  our  sickness  ;  and  that  we  have  in  the  grace  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ, — that  we  have  in  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God. 

IT  would  be  a  very  small  thing  for  the  captain  of  a 
piratical  vessel  to  show  that  he  kept  it  perfectly  clean, 
that  his  men  were  orderly,  and  that  he  and  they  were 
guilty  of  no  special  violations  of  the  etiquette  of  life.  If 
a  vessel  is  a  piratical  vessel,  and  at  war  with  every  civil- 
ized nation  on  the  globe,  that  is  enough  to  condemn  it. 
Its  organization,  the  purpose  of  it,  is  radically  and  atro- 
ciously wrong.  And  these  single  virtues  of  a  man's 
character  are  of  little  account,  so  long  as  the  very  foun- 
dation of  his  being  is  corrupt.  It  is  a  small  thing  for  a 
man  to  show  that  he  has  never  committed  any  memorable, 
flagrant  sins.  It  is  far  better,  of  course,  for  a  man  to 
cultivate  virtues,  and  abstain  from  vices.  I  would  say 
nothing  to  discourage  from  any  virtue,  or  to  encourage  in 
any  vice.  But  I  say  that  mere  right-doing,  and  absti- 
nence from  wrong-doing,  is  not  all  that  is  required  of  men. 
A  man's  whole  life  is  more  than  any  indmdual  act.  The 
opposition  of  the  heart  to  God  is  of  itself  a  thing  merit- 
ing judgment-day  condemnation.  Nothing  more  than 
this  is  required  to  exclude  a  man  from  the  glory  of  the 
eternal  heavens. 


ROYAL-  TR  UTHS.  121 

WHENEVER  you  see  flowers,  understand  that  there  is 
a  meaning  in  them ;  and  remember  that  Christ  has  said, 
with  reference  to  them,  "  Consider."  You  have  no  right 
to  pass  by  the  smallest,  the  tiniest,  the  most  inconspicuous 
flower,  and  say,  "  O,  it  is  a  little  common  flower."  A 
common  flower  ?  It  is  God-opened,  and  God-built ;  and 
Christ  has  said  respecting  it,  "  Consider."  Yes,  there  is  a 
meaning  in  flowers.  It  is  a  precious  meaning,  —  one 
that  you  need,  and  one  that  will  kindle  up  your  life,  and 
make  your  soul  glow  with  radiance.  Take  it,  and  profit 
by  it. 

MEN  say,  "  It  is  impossible  that  I  should  have  an  emo- 
tion of  hatred  toward  God,  and  never  know  it.  Do  you 
suppose  I  should  not  know  fire  if  it  touched  me  ?  Do 
you  suppose  that  if  a  man  were  to  put  caustic  on  me  I 
should  not  know  it?  And  do  you  suppose  I  could  have 
a  feeling  of  hatred  toward  God  and  never  be  conscious  of 
it  ?  "  There  is  such  a  thing  as  latent  hatred,  that  must 
be  inflamed  before  it  will  manifest  itself.  Men  say,  "  Do 
you  suppose  I  could  carry  fire  in  my  bosom  and  not  know 
it  ?  I  have  felt  myself  a  hundred  times,  and  I  am  not 
hot."  But  there  may  be  fire  raked  up,  as  well  as 
fire  in  full  glow.  There  may  be  a  susceptibility  of  heart 
that  stands  prepared,  like  powder  in  magazines,  to  be 
ignited.  A  man  may  be  like  a  military  fortification,  with 
implements  of  war  of  every  kind  ready  to  be  brought 
into  requisition  the  moment  the  signal  gun  is  fired.  But 
it  is  a  military  fortification,  though  the  signal  gun  may 
never  have  been  fired,  and  though  not  one  of  these  im- 
plements has  ever  been  brought  into  requisition.  It  is 
a  military  fortification,  though  a  particle  of  powder  may 
never  have  been  exploded  in  it.  It  was  built  for  war 
6 


122  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

from  foundation  to  turret,  and  all  the  implements  it  con- 
tains were  made  for  war,  and  they  are  in  readiness  to  be 
applied  to  the  purposes  of  war  when  the  proper  time 
shall  come. 

Now  look  at  the  soul,  —  castellated,  fortified,  provis- 
ioned, armed.  Though  the  day  may  not  have  come  when 
its  mighty  implements  have  been  used,  yet  they  are  ready 
to  be  used  at  any  moment  when  the  proper  circumstances 
arise.  A  man  may  have  qualities  of  mind  which  do  not 
manifest  themselves  in  his  life,  because  the  circumstances 
necessary  to  bring  them  into  action  do  not  exist. 

It  is  charged,  not  that  every  man  has  come  to  a  fla- 
grant outbreak  in  opposition  to  the  Divine  Being,  but 
that  every  man  has  elements  that  are  opposed  to  the 
Divine  Being,  which,  the  moment  he  is  brought  to  a  real- 
ization of  God's  authority,  will  develop  their  real  charac- 
ter. You  are  not  obliged,  in  order  to  be  at  enmity  with 
God,  to  say  to  Him,  in  so  many  words,  "  I  will  not  have 
Thee  to  reign  over  me."  Whether  spoken  or  not,  that  is 
the  natural  language  of  the  unconverted  human  heart. 


To  a  resilient  nature  nothing  can  be  more  trying  than 
to  lie  aside  from  usefulness  and  be  worthless.  If  it  please 
God  to  say  to  us,  "  I  lead  you  through  dark  and  critical 
ways  where  ordinary  and  unsustained  manhood  cannot 
walk,  because  I  want  an  example  there  " ;  it  fires  the 
soul  with  such  a'  conception  of  the  mission  of  suffering, 
that  we  are  able  to  endure  it,  and  to  endure  it  cheerfully. 


THE  tree  of  life,  whose  leaves  were  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations,  has  been  evilly  dealt  with.  Its  boughs  have 
been  lopped,  and  its  roots  starved  till  its  fruit  is  knurly. 
Upon  its  top  had  been  set  scions  of  bitter  fruits,  that 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  123 

grew  and  sucked  out  all  the  sap  from  the  better  branches. 
Upon  its  trunk  the  wild  boar  of  the  forest  had  whetted 
his  tusks. 

But  now  again  it  blooms.  Its  roots  have  found  the 
river,  and  shall  not  want  again  for  moisture  ;  the  grafts 
of  poisonous  fruits  have  not  taken  and  are  blown  out ; 
mighty  spearsmen  have  hunted  the  swine  back  to  his 
thickets,  and  the  hedge  shall  be  brok.en  down  no  more 
round  about  it.  The  air  is  fragrant  in  its  opening  buds, 
the  young  fruit  is  setting.  God  has  returned  and  looked 
upon  it,  and  behold,  summer  is  in  all  its  branches ! 


IN  our  social  intercourse  we  perceive  how  differently 
children  behave  under  restraint.  If  you  attempt  to  gov- 
ern one  child,  you  meet  him  face  to  face,  and  he  flames 
at  you  like  a  little  volcano.  The  next  child  you  attempt 
to  govern  is  not  one  whit  more  willing  to  be  subdued, 
but  he  draws  a  veil  of  tranquillity  over  his  rebellious 
spirit,  and  glides  away  as  if  to  obey  you,  simply  to  get 
out  of  your  reach.  One  colors  in  the  face,  and  waxes 
hot,  and  openly  violates  your  commands ;  the  other  says, 
"  Yes,"  and  goes  and  does  as  he  has  a  mind  to.  Both  of 
them  are  fractious,  and  both  of  them  disobey  you.  It  is 
not  always  the  most  obstreperous  natures  that  are  hardest 
to  be  subdued ;  it  is  oftentimes  these  soft,  gentle  natures. 
There  are  persons  that  are  amiable,  and  that  go  purling 
through  life  as  little  brooks  do  through  meadows  ;  but  no 
brook  runs  up  stream.  There  are  persons  that  are  world- 
ly and  notoriously  without  God  in  the  soul,  whose  dis- 
positions are  soft  and  tranquil,  simply  because  their 
nature  works  by  softness  and  tranquillity :  but  they 
are  just  as  much  opposed  to  the  Divine  will  as  if  their 
opposition  were  more  open  and  declarative. 


124  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

IT  is  not  in  vain  that  I  have  preached  that  this  life  is 
but  God's  school-house,  in  which  we  are  being  prepared 
for  an  eternity  of  blessedness  in  His  presence.  The 
things  that  are  flying  backward  and  forward  in  this  world 
are  God's  shuttles,  that  carry  the  thread  out  of  which  are 
to  be  woven  the  garments  that  we  are  to  wear  hereafter ; 
and  blessed  are  they  whose  shuttle  carries  a  thread  which 
shall  glow  in  garments  of  white  evermore. 


PAUL  had  brought  near  to  him  —  nearer  than  the 
things  which  the  senses  ministered  to  him  —  the  eternal 
realm  of  blessedness  beyond  this  sphere,  the  habitation  of 
God's  sons,  where  Christ  is  ever  present  with  them,  in- 
spiring them,  and  rewarding  them,  and  leading  them  to 
higher  joys  and  nobler  enterprises  of  usefulness  forever 
and  forever.  This  was  so  near  to  Paul  that  he  lived  in 
sight  of  it,  and  said,  "  O,  these  little  distemperatures,  — 
this  being  beaten  with  rods ;  this  receiving  stripes  ;  this 
being  shipwrecked ;  this  being  in  perils  of  sea  and  of 
land ;  this  being  cold,  and  hungry,  and  thirsty,  —  these 
things  only  tap  and  hit  the  body  ;  they  do  not  go  inside  ; 
they  do  not  strike  through.  I  live  in  such  a  nearness  to 
my  coming  glory,  in  such  a  nearness  to  the  invisible  and 
the  eternal  world,  that  I  regard  these  things  as  of  no 
account  when  compared  with  that.  I  do  not  care  for 
them." 

And  why  should  we  ?  We  see  the  same  principle  at 
work  every  day  in  little  things.  If  in  Kansas  the  care- 
ful husbandman,  whose  starving  cattle  have  but  a  faint 
chance  of  living  the  winter  through,  sees  a  wisp  of  straw, 
a  handful  of  stalks,  or  a  particle  of  hay  being  wasted,  it 
sorely  grieves  him.  He  is  so  near  to  the  edge  of  starva- 
tion that  he  cannot  afford  to  have  anything  wasted. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  125 

But  go  into  Illinois  and  Indiana,  where  all  these  things 
are  abundant,  and  where  the  herds  are  their  own  harvest- 
men,  and  tramp  down  a  thousand  times  more  than  they 
eat ;  and  the  farmer,  when  he  sees  the  stack  gnawed,  and 
scattered  around,  knee  deep,  and  being  wasted,  says, 
"  There  is  no  need  of  my  saving  such  little  things,  they 
are  mere  trifles ;  I  have  so  much  that  I  do  not  know 
what  to  do  with  it" 

The  apostle,  arguing  according  to  the  same  principle, 
says,  "  What  is  a  little  waste  here  ?  The  rinds  and 
crumbs  of  life,  —  a  little  sorrow ;  a  little  loss  ;  a  little 
contempt ;  a  few  persecutions,  and  afflictions,  and  troub- 
les, —  what  are  these  in  the  great  circle  of  God's  eternal 
world  ?  There  I  am  rich  and  honorable ;  and  what  dif- 
ference does  it  make  if  here  I  am  the  offscouring  of  the 
world?" 


"  I  HAVE  learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith 
to  be  content.  I  know  both  how  to  be  abased,  and  I 
know  how  to  abound :  everywhere  and  in  all  things  I  am 
instructed  both  to  be  full  and  to  be  hungry,  both  to 
abound  and  to  suffer  need ;  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  which  strengthened  me."  It  is  as  if  Paul  had 
said,  "I  have  absolutely  subordinated  the  physical  and 
the  temporal,  and  I  regard  them  as  but  instrumental  to 
that  which  is  greater,  —  to  my  own  inward  state.  I  have 
achieved  a  complete  victory  over  them.  I  have  over- 
come all  things,  so  that  with  my  mind  fixed  upon  Christ 
and  upon  the  image  of  Christ  that  is  formed  in  me,  I 
count  nothing  to  be  unendurable  which  tends  to  build  up 
the  manly  character  of  which  I  have  an  ideal,  And  I 
know  when  I  am  hungry  to  be  hungry,  and  not  to  care ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  when  I  come  into  circumstances 


126  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

of  abounding  luxury,  I  know  how  to  accept  that  and  not 
be  harmed  by  it.  I  can  sit  with  the  barbarian  and  eat  a 
crust,  and  be  contented  and  happy;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  when  swept  by  a  current  of  prosperity  I  am  taken 
into  a  rich  man's  house,  I  do  not  sit  and  pout,  and  criti- 
cise, and  censure,  with  lordly  stoicism.  I  understand  that 
there  is  good  in  fruit,  and  bread,  and  things  like  these. 
I  love  luxury ;  and  I  do  not  fear  the  want  of  it.  I  can 
go  up  and  I  can  go  down.  I  can  be  swept  like  an  ever- 
swinging  pendulum,  with  riches  in  one  tick  and  poverty 
in  the  other,  with  joy  resounding  in  one  and  sorrow  in  the 
other  ;  and  I  know  how  to  take  them  both  in  quick  suc- 
cession, and  .yet  to  feel  that  after  all  such  things  are  mere 
outward  accidents  to  a  man's  life,  and  that  in  the  soul  is 
where  the  life  itself  resides."  Was  there  ever  a  more 
perfect  human  nature  than  Paul's  ? 


"  SEEK  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteous- 
ness, and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  Christ 
was  speaking  to  those  who  were  sawing,  and  hammering, 
and  ploughing,  and  sowing,  and  toiling  in  every  way,  and 
trying  to  get  bread,  and  clothes,  and  fuel,  and  the  various' 
things  that  are  indispensable  to  physical  comfort.  He 
was  speaking  to  just  that  sort  of  men  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  say,  "  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  na- 
ture." Christ  said,  "  The  highest  carries  the  lowest ;  the 
greater  includes  the  lesser.  Seek  first  the  moral  element, 
—  the  element  of  truth  and  righteousness, — and  in  seek- 
ing that,  by  the  very  law  of  your  creation,  you  cannot 
help  taking  the  other  things  with  you.  They  will  follow 
of  necessity."  If  you  take  the  top  first  you  leave  the 
bottom ;  but  if  you  take  the  bottom  first,  that  carries  the 
top  with  it.  You  can  lift  the  roof  and  not  the  founda- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  127 

tion,  but  you  cannot  lift  the  foundation  and  not  the  roof. 
And  the  foundation  of  human  life  is  rectitude,  righteous- 
ness. 


WHATEVER  men  may  say,  American  slavery  is  not 
Hebrew  slavery :  it  is  Roman  slavery.  We  borrowed 
every  single  one  of  the  elemental  principles  of  our  sys- 
tem of  slavery  from  the  Roman  law,  and  not  from  the 
old  Hebrew.  The  fundamental  feature  of  the  Hebrew 
system  was  that  the  slave  was  a  man,  and  not  a  chattel ; 
while  the  fundamental  feature  of  the  Roman  system  was 
that  he  was  a  chattel,  and  not  a  man.  The  essential 
principle  of  the  old  Mosaic  servitude  made  it  the  duty  of 
the  master  to  treat  his  servants  as  men,  and  to  instruct 
them  in  his  own  religion,  and  in  the  matters  of  his  own 
household;  while  the  essential  principle  of  Roman  ser- 
vitude allowed  the  master  to  treat  his  servants,  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes,  as  chattels,  goods. 


IT  seems  very  strange,  —  this  economy  of  God,  in 
which  He  thrusts  into  the  door  of  life  a  million  of  His 
children,  saying,  "  Go,  live,  and  find  out  how  to  live." 
That  is  the  very  point  of  the  Divine  economy.  The  find- 
ing out  how  to  live,  you  know,  is  what  whets  a  man 
sharp.  That  is  the  ordained  law  of  existence. 

Whole  ages  may  live  and  die  and  not  know  how  much 
God  has  stored  up  for  men  through  natural  laws.  We 
do  not  understand  their  full  power  and  office.  We  have 
an  idea  of  what  light  is,  but  we  have  only  a  blush  of  a 
knowledge  of  its  entire  nature  and  all  its  functions.  We 
hardly  suspect  the  capacity  of  solar  light.  Who  would 
have  dreamed  twenty-five  years  ago  that  the  sun  was  a 
portrait  painter  ?  Who  would  have  dreamed  twenty-five 


128  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

years  ago  that  every  man  could  possess  the  portrait  of  his 
friends  ?  Who  would  have  dreamed  twenty-five  years 
ago  that  the  poor  soldier,  when  going  to  battle,  could 
carry  with  him  likenesses  of  his  mother,  his  sweetheart, 
and  his  brothers  and  sisters,  at  the  cost  of  a  few  shillings  ? 
And  yet  all  these  powers  of  the  sun  to  paint  pictures 
which  have  but  lately  been  disclosed,  it  has  carried  in  its 
bosom  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  Telescopes 
existed  in  possibility  long  before  they  existed  in  reality. 
And  all  that  the  sun  has  yet  concealed  you  do  rftt  know. 
No  man  knows  what  things  are  still  to  come  to  the  world 
from  the  sun.  The  sun  is  crammed  full  of  blessings  to 
be  unfolded  when  we  have  found  out  the  things  that  are 
in  it.  And  all  the  great  natural  laws  of  the  globe  have 
existed  from  eternity.  The  fact  that  they  have  not  de- 
veloped themselves  does  not  militate  against  the  fact  that 
they  have  existed,  that  God  made  them,  that  He  has  cdn- 
trolled  the  earth  by  them,  and  that  they  were  designed  to 
work  out  a  great  history. 


I  STAND  to  declare  that  justice  is  worth  more  than  the 
cornfields  of  the  continent.  I  stand  to  declare  that  right 
between  man  and  man  is  worth  more  than  all  the  freights 
of  all  the  ships  that  whiten  the  sea.  I  stand  to  declare 
that  there  is  not  in  the  king's  crown,  nor  in  the  sceptre 
-of  any  monarch,  such  a  power  as  there  is  in  simple 
mercy  between  human  beings.  I  stand  to  declare  that 
the  secret  of  national  compactness  is  in  national  con- 
science, national  affection,  and  national  faith  in  moral 
ideas.  And  I  stand  to  declare  that  the  period  in  which 
men  scoff  at  moral  laws  and  moral  truths  is  a  period  of 
rank  infidelity  and  utter  apostasy.  The  form  of  religion 
may  stand  in  such  a  period,  but  it  will  be  worm-eaten ; 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  129 

it  will  be  dead  ;  it  will  be  rotten.  And  if  you  want  to 
know  wbich  way  nations  are  to  go  to  find  prosperity,  let 
me  tell  you  that  every  nation  that  means  to  be  prospered 
must  steer  straight  to  the  light-house  of  the  universe. 
And  what  is  that?  God's  heart.  Any  nation  that  steers 
for  any  other  thing  will  run  upon  shoals  and  rocks* 


Do  not  be  afraid  because  the  community  teems  with 
excitement.  Silence  and  death  are  dreadful.  The  rush 
of  life,  the  vigor  of  earnest  men,  the  conflict  of  realities, 
invigorate,  cleanse,  and  establish  the  truth. 


THE  Bible  says  that  everything  was  made  for  the  sake 
of  righteousness.  Men  generally  feel  that  perhaps  it  is 
so.  They  hope  it  is.  They  do  not  exactly  see  how  it 
can  be.  They  do  not  understand  it.  They  sometimes 
hope  and  sometimes  despond  concerning  it  Let  us  look 
a  little  at  it,  then. 

We  ought  to  understand  beforehand,  that  a  law  may 
not  seem  to  be  enforced  which  is  absolutely  enforced. 

When  the  ground  breaks,  and  the  grape  comes  up,  I 
say,  "  The  law  of  that  plant  is  to  develop  grape  sugar. 
That  which  this  vine  is  going  to  reach  after  is  grape 
sugar.  Grape  sugar  is  what  it  will  tend  toward  all  through 
its  life."  I  may  interfere  with  it  and  stop  its  growth,  or 
maim  it,  or  kill  it,  or  hold  it  back,  or  graft  upon  it  some 
other  grape  that  will  not  develop  sweetness.  Or,  I  may 
watch  it  through  the  first,  the  second,  and  the  third  pe- 
riods of  its  growth,  and  laugh  to  scorn  any  man  that  says 
it  is  tending  to  grape  sugar.  I  may  be  looking  for  sugar 
in  a  bowl,  sugar  in  lumps,  and,  looking  at  the  vine,  may 
say,  "  That 's  what  you  call  sugar,  is  it  ?  Great  sugar ! " 
And  yet,  after  it  has  grown  for  four  or  five  years,  and 
G*  i 


130  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

come  to  maturity,  and  developed  clusters  of  fruit,  then  in 
October,  when  the  berries  are  ripe,  pick  one  and  taste  it, 
and  see  if  there  is  not  sugar  in  it.  See  if  it  has  not  at 
last  come  to  sugar.  When  the  vine  is  growing  you  can 
stop,  pervert,  or  check  the  law,  but  that  does  not  alter 
the  fact  that  the  law  is  to  seek  grape  sugar ;  that  if  un- 
impeded it  will  come  to  grape  sugar  ;  that  it  was  organ- 
ized to  develop  grape  sugar  ;  and  that  you  cannot  change 
its  nature  so  but  that  it  shall  tend  in  that  direction. 

So  it  is  in  respect  to  all  the  great  laws  of  nature. 
'They  are  so  established  that  they  will  fulfil  their  func- 
tions in  part.  They  may  be  held  back,  they  may  be 
masked,  they  may  be  perverted,  but  this  does  not  alter 
the  fact  that  they  are  laws. 


THE  peculiarity  of  many  of  the  afflictions  of  life  is  that 
they  take  out  a  man's  marrow,  they  take  the  strength  out 
of  him  ;  he  is  left  collapsed  and  feeble,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing in  him  to  rise  up  against  these  troubles.  It  is  quite 
in  vain  to  stimulate  such  persons  by  telling  them  what 
others  have  suffered,  giving  the  old  accustomed  comfort, 
telling  a  man  that  he  is  not  suffering  more  than  anybody 
else  has  suffered,  or  that  the  longest  night  has  a  dawning. 
All  these  truisms  of  consolation  do  not  help  anybody,  but 
hurt  a  great  many.  There  is  but  one  thing  under  such 
circumstances  that  ever  has  consolation.  When,  by  rea- 
son of  afflictions  of  any  kind,  life  is  paralyzed,  and  there 
is  no  sensibility  left,  if  the  soul  can  lift  itself  up  to  feel 
that  there  is  life  in  God,  that  there  is  a  vital  connection 
between  itself  and  the  life  of  Christ,  that  though  it  die,  it 
shall  live,  —  the  simple  thought  that  Christ  lives  and  so 
shall  I,  that  is  an  anchor,  and  that  holds  a  man  in  this 
extremity  and  emergency  of  grief. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  131 

THERE  is  tonic  in  the  things  that  men  do  not  love  to 
hear ;  and  there  is  damnation  in  the  things  that  wicked 
men  love  to  hear.  Free  speech  is  to  a  great  people 
what  winds  are  to  oceans  and  malarial  regions,  which 
waft  away  the  elements  of  disease,  and  bring  new  ele- 
ments of  health.  And  where  free  speech  is  stopped  mi- 
asma is  bred,  and  death  comes  fast. 


I  WOULD  die  myself,  cheerfully  and  easily,  before  a 
man  should  be  taken  out  of  my  hands  when  I  had  the 
power  to  give  him  liberty,  and  the  hound  was.  after  him 
for  his  blood.  I  would  stand  as  an  altar  of  expiation 
between  slavery  and  liberty,  knowing  that,  through  my 
example,  a  million  men  would  live.  A  heroic  deed, 
in  which  one  yields  up  his  life  for  others,  is  his  Calvary. 
It  was  the  hanging  of  Christ  on  that  hill-top  that  made  it 
the  highest  mountain  on  the  globe.  Let  a  man  do  a 
right  thing  with  such  earnestness  that  he  counts  his  life 
of  little  value,  and  his  example  becomes  omnipotent. 
Therefore  it  is  said  that  the  blood  of  the  saints  is  the  seed 
of  the  Church.  There  is  no  such  seed  planted  in  this 
world  as  good  blood. 

AMONG  the  most  exquisitely  delicate  of  human  experi- 
ences are  those  which  the  young  child  goes  through  when 
it  begins  to  quarrel  with  itself  because  it  cannot  help 
thinking  that  the  parent  is  imperfect. 


WHEN  night  is  on  the  deep,  when  the  headlands  are 
obscured  by  the  darkness,  and  when  storm  is  in  the  air, 
that  man  who  undertakes  to  steer  by  looking  over  the 
side  of  the  ship,  over  the  bow,  or  over  the  stern,  or  by 
looking  at  the  clouds  or  his  own  fears,  is  a  fool.  There 


132  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

is  a  silent  needle  in  the  binnacle,  which  points  like  the 
finger  of  God,  telling  the  mariner  which  way  to  steer,  and 
enabling  him  to  outride  the  storm,  and  reach  the  harbor 
in  safety.  And  what  the  compass  is  to  navigation,  that  is 
moral  principle  in  our  affairs.  Whatever  the  issue  may 
be,  we  have  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  is  to  look  where 
the  compass  of  God  points,  and  steer  that  way.  You 
need  not  fear  shipwreck  when  God  is  the  pilot. 


OUR  children  come  to  us  in  all  the  seeming  of  angels. 
How  sweet  is  the  dawn  of  life  !  How  is  the  cradle  like 
the  opening  of  the  gate  of  paradise!  And  yet,  who  can 
overhang  the  unformed,  yet  shadowy,  dreamy  beginnings 
of  life  in  the  child,  and  remember  that  it  comes  by  sinful 
parents  into  a  sinful  world,  bearing  a^sinful  disposition, 
without  feeling  that  there  is  a  counterbalance  to  the 
pleasure  which  it  brings  ? 


THE  value  of  things  is  measured  in  the  great  world  by 
their  price  in  market,  by  their  relation  to  pleasure,  by 
their  power  to  win  praise,  or  to  gratify  and  confirm  am- 
bition. Worldly  men  are  perfectly  sure  of  that  which 
they  can  see,  and  which  their  hands  can  handle.  Money 
is  a  certainty,  and  pleasure  is  a  certainty.  There  can 
be  no  question  about  the  reality  of  power,  place,  and 
influence.  Houses  and  lands,  ships  and  stores,  goods 
and  stocks,  silver  and  gold,  certainly  make  men  rich 
among  men.  And  these,  to  worldly  natures,  are  tho 
great  truths  of  life.  For  these  they  yield  up  affection, 
refinement,  honor,  virtue  itself.  Beyond  these,  and  above 
them,  all  is  shadowy  and  uncertain.  For  worldly  har- 
vests their  sun  comes  up,  their  seasons  rule.  The  only 
providence  which  they  recognize  is  that  which  remuner- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  133 

ates  industry,  economy,  frugality,  and  shrewdness.  They 
laugh  to  scorn  the  intimation  that  all  these  things  are  but 
the  covers  that,  like  hull  and  husk,  drop  away  so  soon 
as  the  grain  is  ripe,  and  are  of  worth  only  while  they 
serve  it.  But  the  whole  realm  of  nature  is  administered 
for  the  purpose  of  evolving  and  establishing  this  secret 
and  inward  life  of  man.  The  true  history  of  the  world 
is  to  be  found  in  the  relation  of  the  outward  world  to  the 
inward. 


IN  estimating  the  dignity  of  men,  the  volume  and  the 
vastness  of  their  being,  we  are  not  to  measure  them  by 
the  use  to  which  they  have  put  themselves,  but  by  the 
nature  of  those  faculties  which  God  gave  them.  Insphere 
man  in  the  infinite  realm,  project  him  by  the  mighty  pow- 
er of  his  infinite  Father,  and  then,  moving  along  the  ways 
of  eternity, —  then,  when  ages  have  nourished  him,  and 
the  full  measure  of  Divine  beneficence  hath  showered  its 
seasons  numberless  upon  him,  —  then,  when  stars  have 
worn  out  and  weary  worlds  have  ceased  their  circuits,  — 
then,  when  God  hath  wrought  out  in  full  literature  of 
wondrous  wisdom  the  whole  of  that  of  which  earthly  life 
was  but  alphabetic, — then  measure  him  if  you  can!  It 
is  from  this  foreseen  and  imagined  destiny  that  we  bring 
back  a  light  to  glorify  the  cheerless  way  of  rude  and  un- 
replenished  men. 

THE  spirit  and  the  letter  of  Christianity  require  us 
habitually  to  regard  man  in  his  essentials,  and  not  in  his 
accidental  relations.  "  Be  ye  of  the  same  mind  one  to- 
ward another.  Mind  not  high  things,  but  condescend  to 
men  of  low  estate."  To  be  of  the  same  mind  one  toward 
another,  is  to  have  a  feeling  of  community,  a  feeling  of 


134  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

common  universal  sympathy ;  and  we  are  expressly  for- 
bidden" to  do  what  every  one  in  the  proportion  in  which 
he  is  educated  tends  to  do,  —  to  aspire  to  the  exclusive 
association  of  those  who  have  risen  in  the  world  by  rea- 
son of  the  same  privileges.  They,  too,  are  our  brethren, 
who  are  undeveloped,  unpolished ;  who  perform  the  me- 
nial offices  of  life;  who  live  narrowly  upon  slender  means. 
At  one  blow  this  command  demolishes  the  customs  of  the 
world.  It  is  for  the  Christian  to  separate  men  from  their 
external,  transient  relations,  and  to  behold  them  in  those 
greater  relations  in  which  all  men  are  alike.  Our  breth- 
ren are  not  above  us  nor  below  us,  but  on  the  same  level 
with  us.  All  men  are  upon  one  platform  and  level  who 
stand  upon  the  redemption  of  Christ,  who  subsist  upon 
the  mercy  and  sympathy  of  God,  who  reach  forward  to 
immortality  and  glory  equally  and  alike.  The  example  of 
Christ  ought  to  be  deeply  pondered.  It  stands  in  marked 
contrast  with  the  habits  of  all  classes  of  men  in  His  time. 
He  does  not  seem  to  have  thought  of  men  as  they  stand 
in  societies  grouped  in  classes,  separated  or  united  by 
various  customs,  nor  even  as  they  were  separated  and 
classed  by  the  result  of  their  moral  conduct.  He  seems 
simply  and  quietly,  but  always,  to  have  beheld  them  in 
their  original  and  spiritual  relations,  to  each  other,  to 
God,  and  to  eternity.  He  approached  men  from  a  differ- 
ent point  of  view  from  that  from  which  others  started. 
He  looked  at  them  from  a  law  of  sympathy  not  ordinarily 
employed.  His  example  teaches  us  that  our  thought  is 
not  to  be,  "  Is  this  man  educated  ?  Does  he  stand  high 
in  social  life  ?  Is  he  strong  ?  Is  he  acute  ?  Is  he  skil- 
ful ?  Is  he  rich  ? "  There  is  no  evidence  that  these 
questions  ever  arose  hi  the  mind  of  Christ  with  reference 
to  any  human  being.  He  looked  at  men  in  their  higher 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  135 

and  holier  relations.  They  were  the  children  of  His 
Father.  He  was  elder  Brother,  and  was  not  ashamed 
to  call  them  brethren.  They  were  destined  to  the  same 
eternity  which  waited  for  Him.  They  were  all  weak, 
vincible  by  temptation,  in  need  of  help,  of  instruction,  of 
moral  stimulus.  Their  poverty,  their  rudeness,  was  the 
accident.  Their  Divine  nature  was  the  characteristic 
element. 


SOME  of  God's  noblest  sons,  I  think,  will  be  selected 
from  those  that  know  how  to  take  wealth,  with  all  its 
temptations,  and  maintain  godliness  therewith.  It  is 
hard  to  be  a  saint  standing  in  a  golden  niche. 


WHEN  the  Bible  prescribes  Christian  graces,  it  always 
implies  love  as  the  motive  power ;  as  when  we  speak  of 
rearing  harvests  it  is  always  implied  that  there  is  a  soil. 
Without  love  there  is  no  soil  for  any  Christian  grace.  If 
there  be  little  of  it,  the  fruit  of  Christian  feeling  will  be 
poor  and  scant.  If  there  be  much,  there  will  be  great 
fruit,  and  easily  grown.  All  things  are  easy  to  love.  It 
tames  all  passions,  inspires  all  affections,  feeds  every  gen- 
erous sentiment,  gives  both  softness  and  potency,  as  its 
needs  require,  to  the  will,  makes  the  understanding  lu- 
minous, and  by  making  the  whole  man  like  God,  makes 
it  easy  for  him  to  be  godlike  to  his  fellow-men. 


IF  earthly  analogies  may  at  all  guide  us,  there  can  be 
no  more  direct  and  offensive  assault  upon  God  than 
through  His  children.  A  man  may  draw  near  to  my 
dwelling  to  rail  at  me ;  may  assault  my  reputation ;  may 
lie  in  wait  and  plot  against  my  secular  prosperity ;  may 
overreach  me  in  the  market,  and  hinder  me  upon  the 


136  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

roads  of  life ;  may  steal  from  my  substance,  and  mar  my 
enterprise  ;  but  he  has  not  yet  reached  me.  But  let  him 
sully  the  name  of  my  child,  and  clothe  her  with  ignominy 
before  the  community,  and  all  the  globe,  were  it  a  ball 
of  fire,  would  not  be  hot  or  vast  enough  to  express  the 
indignation  I  should  feel.  Through  my  child  he  has 
reached  me. 

The  feeling  of  justice  is  terrible  when  stirred  up  in  us 
in  our  own  behalf;  but  we  never  know  the  full  power  of 
the  feeling  until  it  is  stirred  in  us  in  behalf  of  others.  I 
have  never  felt  such  indignation  in  my  own  behalf  as  I 
have  for  the  weak,  for  the  poor,  for  the  enslaved.  When 
great  wrongs  fall  upon  them  that  are  ready  to  perish  in 
their  helplessness,  the  soul  is  like  Mount  Sinai,  and  its 
thunderings  and  lightnings  are  full  terrible !  What, 
then,  may  we  suppose  to  be  the  indignation  of  Almighty 
God,  who  carries  in  his  heart  the  well-being  of  every  liv- 
ing creature,  when  He  beholds  the  numberless  torments 
and  wrongs  inflicted  upon  them  ?  What  must  be  the 
grandeur  of  that  experience  of  Love-wrath,  (such  as 
mothers  feel,  such  as  stirs  fathers,  such  as  raises  lovers 
for  their  imperilled  ones  to  the  fiery  zeal  of  heroes,)  when 
it  exists,  not  in  the  small  circle  of  a  human  soul,  with  fit- 
ful impulses,  but  in  the  great  rounds  and  deeps  of  the 
Divine  nature,  with  calm  intensity,  with  unchangeable 
fervor,  and  with  infinite  outreachings  of  power ! 


"  THOU  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
AND  thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  .  That  conjunctive  particle 
is  a  rivet  that  holds  these  two  sentences  together  insepa- 
rably. Each  element  is  necessary  to  the  completion  of  the 
other.  But  men  turn  the  feint  of  Solomon  to  a  reality, 
and  cut  in  two  these  vital  members  of  the  one  life.  Thus 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  137 

we  have  devout  men  full  of  religiousness,  but  caring  little 
for  their  fellow-men  ;  while  over  against  them  are  super- 
ficial philanthropists,  full  of  fussy  zeal  for  humanity,  with- 
out love  for  God,  or  solemn  depth  of  reverential  senti- 
ments. 


As  a  body  of  jaien,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  not 
men  of  bad  morals,  more  than  are  many  church-members 
of  the  present  day.  Neither  were  they  men  who  lacked 
fidelity  to  the  religious  principles  in  which  they  were 
educated.  The  Pharisees  were  in  some  respects  the 
Puritans  of  their  time.  They  were  that  portion  of  the 
Jews  who  stood  up  for  reformed  Jewish  worship.  They 
brought  back  the  faith  of  Moses  from  its  heathen  wander- 
ings, and  strictly  adhered  to  it.  They  were  the  Puritans 
of  the  Jews.  But  they  preferred  the  church  to  the  peo- 
ple, the  state  to  the  people,  the  temple  to  the  people, 
their  denomination  to  the  people :  and  their  guilt  was 
simply  this  :  a  contempt  for  human  nature  ;  utter  heart- 
lessness  about  the  common  people.  And  because  they 
put  burdens  upon  other  men  which  they  would  not  bear 
themselves;  because  they  were  without  humanity,  and 
mercy,  and  sympathy,  notwithstanding  they  had  personal 
power,  and  were  faithful  to  their  theologic  faith,  and  were 
the  most  enlightened  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived, 
Christ  crushed  them  with  mountains  of  denunciation. 
There  is  no  such  invective  as  came  from  the  lips  of 
Christ  Jesus  against  men  who  were  utterly  devoid  of 
sympathy  toward  their  fellow-men. 


Do  not  criticise  men's  callings ;  do  not  measure  be- 
tween one  and  another ;  especially  disarm  yourselves  of 
that  infernal  tendency  to  make  men  discontented  in  their 


138  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

various  avocations,  by  comparing  them  unfavorably  with 
your  own.  Arrogate  nothing  to  yourselves  or  to  your 
sphere.  Avoid  carrying  yourselves  in  such  a  way  that 
men  shall  feel  hurt  by  the  shadow  which  you  throw 
across  them,  by  the  snuff  of  pride,  or  the  chill  of  indif- 
ference. 


"  IN  honor  preferring  one  another."  This  is  contained 
in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans,  and  the  tenth  verse. 
It  enjoins  an  honest  desire,  springing  from  unfeigned 
sympathy  with  others'  welfare,  to  see  them  put  forward 
in  life  instead  of  yourself.  There  be  some  to  whom 
other  men's  advancement  is  always  a  fret  and  a  burden. 
There  is  a  spirit  of  selfishness  which  leads  envious  and 
covetous  natures  to  esteem  another's  good  so  much  de- 
traction from  their  own;  This  is  an  admirable  illustration 
of  the  nature  of  benevolence  by  its  converse.  A  truly 
benevolent  mind  is  made  happy  at  the  prospect  of  anoth- 
er's good.  A  mind  which  is  made  miserable  by  another's 
benefit,  is  truly  malevolent.  The  father  covets  nothing 
from  the  son.  She  must  be  a  miserable  mother  that 
is  jealous  of  a  daughter.  Nay,  in  the  mother's  heart 
there  is  a  glow  of  triumph,  suppress  it  as  she  may,  as  the 
child's  beauty  rises  on  the  one  side  to  take  the  place  of 
the  beauty  that  is  sinking  on  the  other.  As  one  star 
goes  below  the  horizon,  its  last  rays  of  light  are  cast  in 
cheer  toward  the  star  that  comes  from  the  other.  Fa- 
thers' and  mothers'  hearts  do  these  glorious  things  spon- 
taneously, and  teach  us  how  easy  to  those  that  love  are 
the  most  recondite  and  apparently  impossible  Christian 
graces. 

WE  hear  people  say,  "  What  makes  you  preach  doc- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  139 

trinal  sermons?  Why  do  you  puzzle  our  heads  with 
things  that  we  cannot  understand?  Why  do  you  not 
preach  to  us  the  balmy  gospel  of  love?  Why  do  you 
not  preach  about  the  mild  and  lovely  Saviour  ?  "  There 
are  a  great  many  men  that  like  to  hear  the  sentimentali- 
ty of  love,  who  have  not  the  faintest  conception  of  what 
the  effect  and  the  power  of  it  is  to  be  in  them. 

I  look  at  the  life  and  disposition  of  these  men  who  cry 
for  the  lullaby  of  love,  in  the  family,  in  the  shop,  in  all 
departments  of  their  life,  and  I  find  that  they  abhor  love 
except  on  Sunday  when  I  preach  on  that  doctrine  of 
God's  moral  government.  But  if  I  were  to  go  to  them 
at  their  places  of  business,  and  say,  "  I  understand  that 
you  take  advantage  of  the  circumstances  of  your  work- 
men, and  employ  them  at  one  quarter  of  what  they  ought 
to  have,  so  that  they  can  scarcely  subsist  on  what  you 
pay  them ;  and  as  you  wanted  me  to  preach  about  love, 
I  thought  I  would  come  and  tell  you  what  the  doctrine  of 
love  is  as  applied  to  matters  of  this  kind,"  they  would 
say,  "  Religion  is  religion,  and  business  is  business.  Go 
home,  and  when  I  want  you  to  come  to  my  shop  and 
preach  to  me  I  will  let  you  know."  In  other  words,  they 
want  sermon  love,  poetic  love,  theoretic'  love,  love  that 
makes  them  feel  good  during  the  insurance  day,  —  for 
Sunday  is  the  insurance  day  of  the  week !  And  they 
want  me  to  talk  of  love  because  it  subdues  their  fears, 
soothes  their  hearts,  and  makes  them  feel  pleasant.  But 
there  is  a  way  in  which  they  do  not  want  love  preached 
even  on  Sunday,  and  in  the  pulpit  They  do  not  want 
it  preached  as  a  rod  of  iron,  that  says,  "  I  am  sovereign 
and  supreme ;  I  stand  in  you  for  all ;  and,  in  the  name  of 
God,  I  command  that  every  part  of  your  being,  —  your 
thoughts,  your  feelings,  and  your  actions,  —  shall  be  sub- 


140  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ordinate  to  me."  When  men  have  love  presented  in 
this  way,  they  do  not  like  it.  They  like  to  have  it  pre- 
sented so  as  to  allow  them  to  have  their  own  way,  and  so 
as  to  quiet  their  conscience  in  their  selfish  courses. 


THERE  can  be  nothing  more  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Bible,  of  the  law  of  God,  of  the  feelings  of  Christ ; 
nothing  more  an  affront  and  offence  before  Heaven,  than 
feelings  of  contempt,  bitterness,  or  hatred  toward  men. 
Even  indifference  and  coldness  are  culpable.  Sympathy 
with  mankind  is  a  universal  duty.  Christ  taught  us  that 
every  man  is  our  neighbor.  We  are  commanded  as  we 
have  opportunity  to  do  good  unto  all  men.  There  should 
be  an  abiding  disposition  of  benevolence  out  of  which 
should  spring  incessant  acts  of  kindness.  When  the  wa- 
ters of  an  inexhaustible  spring  have  been  conveyed 
through  pipes  to  your  dwelling,  it  needs  only  that  you 
should  open  the  vent,  and  it  will  gush  forth  with  power 
aud  copiousness  by  its  own  native  force.  Even  when  it 
is  not  flowing,  it  is  pressing  and  urging  itself,  and  longing 
to  flow.  Left  to  itself,  night  and  day  it  would  gush.  .  It 
must  be  hindered,  it  must  be  stopped,  but  it  needs  never 
to  be  solicited.  There  is  a  well-spring  of  love  which 
God  sinks  in  the  human  soul,  which  throbs  without  ceas- 
ing, and  strives  to  give  itself  forth.  From  such  a  reser- 
voir we  need  no  slow-descending  and  heavy-rising  bucket, 
we  need  no  forcing-pump,  nor  instrument  of  power  of 
any  sort.  It  is  its  nature  to  rise  up,  to  go  out.  The 
kindness  is  always  there,  always  ready  and  waiting. 
Only  opportunity  is  needed. 


A  MAN  is,  as  it  were,  a  cask  of  wine.    The  figure 
would  have  been  allowable  in  the  days  of  Christ,  —  more 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  141 

allowable,  perhaps,  than  it  is  in  our  temperance  days ! 
A  worm  gnaws  through  a  stave.  It  is  a  small  worm,  not 
half  so  large  as  a  knitting-needle.  The  moment  he  comes 
to  the  wine  he  draws  out  his  head,  —  for  worms  are  not 
so  fond  of  wine  as  men  are !  —  and  a  drop  follows  him, — 
only  a  drop.  Another  worm,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
cask,  gnaws  through  another  stave.  He  gets  a  drop,  and 
draws  back.  On  each  end  there  are  a  dozen  or  twenty 
other  worms  eating  their  way  to  the  wine.  Not  one  of 
them  is  as  big  as  a  mite ;  but  fifty  or  sixty  of  them  to- 
gether, if  each  makes  a  hole  large  enough  to  allow  a  drop 
to  pass  through  it,  are  sufficient  to  cause  the  waste  of  all 
the  precious  contents  of  the  cask.  After  the  lapse  of  a 
day,  a  week,  a  month,  or  six  months,  the  vintner  goes  to 
see  his  treasure  ;  and  behold,  the  cask  sounds  empty  as 
a  hypocrite's  heart !  There  is  not  a  drop  in  it.  And  yet 
it  looks 'like  a  cask  of  wine.  Where  have  the  contents 
gone  ?  Not  one  pint  has  been  surreptitiously  drawn  by 
the  servant  that  gets  blamed,  or  by  the  thief  that  the 
vintner  accuses  without  knowing  who  he  is.  The  wine 
has  all  leaked  out  at  holes  not  large  enough  to  admit  of 
the  discharge  of  more  than  one  drop  at  a  time. 

Now,  ten  million  little  meannesses,  ten  million  selfish- 
nesses, ten  million  pettishnesses,  ten  million  waspish  dis- 
positions, pierce  and  puncture  the  heart,  and  all  its 
graces  are  drawn  out.  You  are  empty  because  you  leak 
all  over ! 


ONE  of  the  most  difficult  faculties  to  subdue  is  that  of 
reason.  The  pride  of  reason,  the  vanity  of  reason,  and  the 
selfishness  of  reason,  are  among  the  last  things  in  a  man 
that  are  subdued,  as  well  as  being  among  the  last  things 
that  men  understand  that  they  ought  to  subdue.  And 


142  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

yet,  the  pride  of  reason,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  was  an 
object  of  the  most  terrible  denunciations.  And  in  the 
days  of  the  apostles  it  was  the  chief  obstacle  to  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel.  But  men  have  got,  first  or  last, 
to  bring  it  into  subjection  to  love  as  a  dispositional  ele- 
ment in  the  soul,  before  they  can  be  said  to  have  true 
piety. 

A  BOUNTIFUL  mother  sits  in  her  house,  and  says, 
"Mary,  go  down  to  that  dwelling,  and  carry  this  food. 
Julia,  go  down  to  the  dwelling  on  the  other  side  of  the 
street,  and  carry  this  tea  and  this  sugar.  Charles,  take 
this  money  to  that  man :  I  promised  to  pay  his  rent. 
James,  take  this  clothing  down  to  that  woman :  she  is 
sadly  in  need  of  it.  Elizabeth,  take  this  book  to  that 
child."  Elizabeth,  and  Mary,  and  Julia,  and  Charles, 
and  James,  are  so  many  names  of  the  messengers  sent  on 
these  various  errands  of  mercy ;  but  the  mother  was  back 
of  them  all,  and  sent  them  all. 

Now  the  soul  has  its  mother,  Love,  and  she  says  to 
Conscience,  "  Here,  do  such  and  such  things  "  ;  to  Ven- 
eration, "  Here,  do  such  and  such  things  "  ;  and  to  Rea- 
son, "  Here,  do  such  and  such  things " ;  and  Conscience 
and  Veneration  and  Reason,  and  all  the  other  faculties, 
run  to  do  as  they  are  bid :  but  it  is  the  mother,  Love, 
that  sends  them.  •  They  all  represent  her,  and  perform 
her  errands.  Though  each  one  walks  with  a  separate 
name,  Love  sits  behind  them,  and  they  obey  her  man- 
dates. 


You  can  imagine  thistle-down  so  light  that  when  you 
ran  after  it  your  running  motion  would  drive  it  away 
from  you,  and  that  the  more  you  tried  to  catch  it  the 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  143 

faster  it  would  fly  from  your  grasp.  And  it  should  be 
with  every  man  that  when  he  is  chased  by  troubles,  they, 
chasing,  shall  raise  him  higher  and  higher. 


IT  is  scarcely  needful  to  exhort  men  to  sympathize 
with  those  of  their  own  kind,  or  with  those  whom  they 
recognize  as  superior  to  themselves.  Our  selfishness 
would  inspire  it  in  the  one  case,  and  our  ambition  in  tho 
other.  Men  are  quite  willing  from  a  subordinate  rank 
to  reach  up  to  and  sympathize  with  men  of  superior 
stamp.  The  student  will  sympathize  with  the  ripe 
scholar;  the  cadet  with  the  veteran  soldier;  the  clerk 
with  the  millionnaire.  If  Humboldt  should  take  us  into 
his  library,  show  us  the  maps  which  he  has  consulted,  the 
works  which  he  has  written,  spread  before  us  specimens 
of  his  cabinet,  —  rock,  earth,  plant,  —  he  would  not  need 
to  crave  our  interest  and  sympathy.  Among  men  of  our 
own  rank,  who  dress  as  we  dress,  who  spread  their  board 
as  we  spread  ours,  who  occupy  themselves  with  the  very 
things  which  engage  our  time  and  attention,  we  find  no 
difficulty  of  sympathy.  Are  we  merchants  ?  We  honor 
a  man  that  can  drive  a  smart  bargain,  because  we  do 
such  things  ourselves,  —  or  try  to  do  them.  If  one  un- 
derstands how  to  build  a  splendid  house ;  how  to  invest 
money  to  a  good  advantage  ;  how  to  get  rich  by  dealing 
in  stocks,  or  by  wide  yet  circumspect  enterprise ;  how  to 
enter  into  the  hurly-burly  of  life,  and  make  his  way 
through  all  difficulties  by  the  force  of  will  and  wisdom,  — 
if  one  is  what  we  are  ambitious  to  become,  if  we  are  not 
like  him  already,  we  find  it  easy  to  sympathize  with  him. 
But  when  at  sundown  the  sweated  laborer  comes  trudg- 
ing wenry  from  the  field ;  when  the  blacksmith,  smouched 
and  grimed,  stands  cooling  himself  in  the  door  while  we 


144  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

drive  past ;  when  the  subterranean  collier  emerges  into  our 
sphere ;  when  men  forever  stooping  to  the  spade,  back- 
bent,  in  laying  stone,  delving,  groping,  toiling  men,  whose 
extreme  necessities  have  consumed  all  their  hours  with 
hard  work,  leaving  little  leisure,  and  no  disposition  for 
reading  and  improvement,  —  when  this  great  army,  I  say, 
that  immensely  populates  the  world,  and  represents  nine- 
tenths  of  the  whole  race,  are  brought  before  us,  how  sel- 
dom do  we  find  working  in  us  the  quick  response  of 
relationship !  We  thank  God  and  bless  ourselves  that  our 
lot  was  not  like  theirs.  Where  there  is  one  man  engaged 
in  the  things  in  which  you  take  interest,  there  are  a 
million  of  blood-bought  men,  eternal  spirits,  that  are 
groping,  yearning,  longing,  in  the  midst  of  scenes  far 
below  you.  And  what  is  the  command  of  God  to  you 
with  reference  to  these  uncounted  and  innumerable  ones  ? 
"Mind  not  high  things,  but  condescend  to  men  of  low 
estate.  Honor  all  men." 


"THE  SABBATH  WAS  MADE  FOR  MAN,  AND  NOT 
MAN  FOR  THE  SABBATH!"  That  sentence  is  passed 
upon  every  usage,  custom,  law,  government,  church,  or 
institution.  Man  is  higher  than  them  all.  Not  one  of 
them  but  may  be  changed,  broken,  or  put  away,  if  the 
good  of  any  man  require  it.  Only,  it  must  be  his  higher 
good,  his  virtue,  his  manhood,  his  purity  and  truth,  his 
life  and  progress,  and  not  his  mere  capricious  material 
interests. 


Do  you  suppose  that  religion  is  like  a  bird  in  a  cage, 
and  that  you  can  lock  it  up  in  the  church,  and  that  the 
keeper  will  take  care  of  it,  and  feed  it,  and  have  it  ready 
to  sing  for  you  whenever  you  choose  to  come  here  and 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  14,3 

listen  to  it  ?  Is  that  your  idea  of  religion  ?  Very  well, 
then :  your  Bible  and  mine  are  different.  We  read  dif- 
ferent translations ! 


IT  is  not  selfishness  in  themselves,  but  selfishness  in 
others,  that  men  hate.  Every  man  wants  his  wife,  his 
children  and  his  neighbors  to  love  him  supremely.  Ev- 
erybody thinks  that  everybody  else  ought  to  keep  their 
temper.  He  is  the  only  one  that  has  a  right  to  indulge 
in  ill-temper.  Every  man  draws  the  reins  tight  in  regard 
to  other  people,  but  allows  himself  the  widest  latitude. 


I  WOULD  much  rather  fight  pride  than  vanity,  because 
pride  has  a  stand-up  way  of  fighting.  You  know  where 
it  is.  It  throws  its  black  shadow  on  you,  and  you  are 
not  at  a  loss  where  to  strike.  But  vanity  is  that  delu- 
sive, that  insectiferous,  that  multiplied  feeling,  and  men 
that  fight  vanities  are  like  men  that  fight  midges  and 
butterflies.  It  is  easier  to  chase  them  than  to  hit  them. 


WHO  ever  passed  the  tomb  of  Abelard  and  Heloise  in 
•the  ground  of  Pere  la  Chaise  without  a  heart-swell  ? 
There  is  no  deep  love  which  has  not  in  it  an  element  of 
solemnity.  It  moves  through  the  soul  as  if  it  were  an 
inspiration  of  God,  and  carries  with  it  something  of  the 
awe  and  shadow  of  eternity. 


NEVER  was  the  conflict  of  a  soul,  lifted  by  yearnings 
and  aspirations  on  one  side,  and  pulled  down  by  sinful 
impulses  and  habits  on  the  other,  better  described  than 
in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans.  There  is  a  solemn 
tenderness  in  it  that  leads  men  to  love  it,  as  one  loves  to 
hear  the  minor  chords  of  music.  It  is  not  the  voice  of 
7  j 


146  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

one  that  declaims,  or  of  one  raging.  It  is  sad,  deep,  sol- 
emn. It  is  the  Miserere  of  the  New  Testament.  I  have 
seen,  in  the  hill  country,  a  little  stream  gathering  from 
the  springs,  and  holding  its  way  with  deepening  water, 
until  it  enters  a  gorge.  Dark  evergreen  trees  make  the 
place  gloomy.  Rocks  and  fallen  timber  hinder  the 
stream.  It  falls  headlong  upon  some  stone,  and  is 
dashed  to  spray  ;  it  trickles  back  to  a  channel,  only  to  be 
caught  and  whirled  in  a  dark  pool ;  and  boiling  out  of 
that,  it  shoots  now  to  the  right,  still  embroiled,  and  now 
to  the  left,  but  whether  forward  or  sideways,  always  hin- 
dered, broken,  and  made  to  cry  out  and  roar  by  its  plun- 
ges and  innumerable  interruptions.  No  flowers  edge  it. 
Its  way  is  too  sunless  for  beauty.  But  when,  at  length, 
far  down,  it  sees  beyond  a  glimpse  of  field  and  meadow, 
it  takes  cheer,  and  speeds  on,  until  at  length  the  broad 
sunshine  strikes  it,  its  cascades  are  fewer,  its  course  even- 
er,  and  at  length  beneath  bending  grasses,  and  simple 
flowers,  and  ruffling  shrubs,  and  over  smooth  shining 
sand,  it  steals  tranquilly  on,  undisturbed,  beautiful,  and 
the  cause  of  beauty  on  either  bank. 

Such  is  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans,  —  the  soul  in 
the  cleft  rocks  of  the  mountain  gorge ;  and  such  the  eighth 
chapter  of  Romans,  —  the  soul  flowing  deep  in  the  fair 
fields  of  heavenly  joy.  The  experience  of  this  seventh 
chapter  may  often  have  been  as  deep  and  as  wonderful  in 
the  souls  of  men  as  in  that  of  the  Apostle ;  but  the  expres- 
sion of  it  has  never  been  equal  to  his. 


I  DO  not  know  of  anything  that  vanity  does  not  dese- 
crate. I  think  the  probe  would  scarcely  reveal  more 
hideous  results  in  the  lusts  themselves  than  in  vanity. 
Who  would  dare  to  pay  that  among  those  whom  they 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  147 

know  there  are  not  those  whose  sickness  is  a  kind  of  ob- 
lation to  vanity ;  a  part  of  whose  capital  is  how  much 
they  suffer;  and  who,  if  you  were  to  deny  that  they 
suffer  more  than  anybody  else  ever  did  suffer,  would  feel 
that  you  were  despoiling  them  of  their  legitimate  tro- 
phies ?  Who  would  dare  to  say  that  in  the  circle  of 
their  acquaintance  there  are  not  those  whose  bereave- 
ments are  oblations  to  vanity ;  who  take  a  vain  pleasure 
in  being  the  objects  of  the  attention  of  the  neighborhood 
for  the  hour,  in  seeing  the  preparations  for  the  funeral, 
in  numbering  the  carriages,  and  in  witnessing  the  sym- 
pathy that  is  excited  for  them  throughout  the  commu- 
nity ?  Who  would  dare  to  say  that  there  might  not  be 
cases  in  which,  if  it  were  their  own  child,  there  would  be 
a  mingling  of  this  heathenish  feeling  with  their  grief? 
I  tell  you,  if  you  sit  down  and  look  at  your  life  in  its  real- 
ity, you  will  find  that  there  is  not  much  poetry  in  it.  The 
poetry  is  given  to  clothe  life  so  that  it  will  not  look  as 
hideous  as  it  really  is. 

IF  a  man  is  living  a  true  Christian  life,  and  says  of 
himself,  "  I  was  convinced  of  my  sinfulness  in  this  sud- 
den and  most  miraculous  way,"  there  is  no  reason  why 
you  should  not  believe  him.  But  if  he  should  say  to 
another  man  who  has  not  had  such  an  experience,  but 
who  is  living  a  godly  life,  "  You  can  scarcely  have  been 
truly  converted,  because  you  had  no  such  experience," 
I  would  say  to  him,  "  You  have  no  right  to  tyrannize  by 
your  experience  over  another  man.  Your  experience 
may  have  been  genuine  ;  but  that  is  no  reason  why  this 
other  man's  experience  was  not  genuine,  though  it  was 
different  from  yours." 

We  have  no  right  (Q  forget  God's  sovereignty,  and 


148  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

limit  Him,  or  our  expectations,  to  this  one  way.  Christ 
entered  Jerusalem  by  many  gate?,  —  not  by  one  only. 
The  human  heart  has  more  gates  than  Jerusalem  had ; 
and  God  enters  it  by  that  gate  which,  in  view  of  the  age 
and  circumstances  and  condition  of  the  person,  it  seems 
to  Him  wisest  to  enter  by. 


IT  is  better  that  a  man  should  be  convicted  of  sin  ter- 
ribly than  that  he  should  be  lost ;  but  a  man  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  be  obliged  to  be  swirled  and  sweltered  in 
heart  and  conscience  before  he  will  abandon  that  which 
is  evil,  and  take  hold  of  that  which  is  good.  When  a 
man  is  in  the  wrong,  how  little  it  takes  to  make  him 
repent  and  go  to  the  right,  indicates  how  manly  he  is. 
When  a  man  is  in  the  wrong,  how  much  it  takes  to  make 
him  repent  and  go  toward  the  right,  indicates  how  manly 
he  is.  It  is  characteristic  of  a  noble  nature,  that,  the  mo- 
ment he  has  done  an  injustice  to  a  neighbor,  and  he  sees 
it,  he  says,  "  I  must  put  that  man  right."  Why  ?  For 
his  own  sake  ?  For  the  sake  of  his  own  reputation  ?  No. 
He  says,  "  There  is  something  in  my  own  manliness 
which  tells  me  that,  having  wronged  that  man,  I  must 
right  him  "  ;  and  he  makes  haste,  he  leaps  with  eagerness 
to  do  it.  A  noble  nature  is  always  anxious,  if  he  has 
done  wrong  anywhere,  to  have  it  made  known  to  him ; 
and  when  it  is  made  known  to  him,  he  is  restless  day  and 
night  till  the  wrong  is  made  right. 


MANY  persons  are  waiting  for  conviction.  They  are 
desirous  of  becoming  Christians,  but  they  think  they  have 
no  right  to  discharge  Christian  duties  until  they  have 
gone  through  certain  appointed  steps  of  conviction.  They 
wish  to  be  Christians,  and  to  feel  like  a  Christian,  before 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  149 

they  live  like  a  Christian.  Is  there  a  man  who  says,  "  If 
I  had  been  convicted  and  converted,  and  was  a  Christian, 
I  would  live  like  a  Christian  ? "  Begin  to  live  like  a 
Christian  !  that  is  more  important  than  any  preliminary 
steps  you  could  take.  Do  you  think  you  would  pray  if 
you  were  a  Christian  ?  Pray  now !  Do  you  think  you 
would  instruct  your  children  if  you  were  a  Christian  ? 
Instruct  them  now !  The  very  way  to  become  a  Christian 
is  to  do  Christian  duty.  "Would  you  praise  God  if  you 
were  a  Christian  ?  Praise  Him  now,  then  !  Do  you 
think  you  would  talk  to  men  of  salvation  if  you  were  a 
Christian  ?  Talk  to  men  of  salvation  now  !  The  doing 
of  these  things  will  make  you  a  Christian.  Being  a 
Christian  is  no  mysterious  thing.  If  you  would  feel  like 
a  Christian,  act  like  one,  —  live  like  one.  The  way  to 
be  a  Christian  is  to  do  as  the  scholar  does,  —  go  to  study- 
ing ;  as  the  traveller  does,  —  start  on  the  journey ;  as  the 
workman  does,  —  take  hold  and  work ;  as  the  farmer 
does,  —  put  in  the  spade  and  the  plough.  The  way  to 
be  a  Christian  is  to  let  alone  the  thing  that  is  wrong,  and 
take  hold  of  the  thing  that  is  right.  Go  and  pray  for 
faith.  If  you  gain  but  little,  do  not  be  discouraged  ;  you 
will  gain  more  next  time.  Watch  for  it.  Strive  for  it. 
Make  up  your  mind  in  the  beginning  that  you  are  but  a 
child  in  these  things.  Say,  "I  am  a  beginner,  and  am 
ignorant ;  but  I  desire  to  learn,  and  I  never  will  leave  off 
my  efforts  to  become  more  and  more  enlightened.  By 
prayer  and  reading  I  will  seek  to  know  my  duty ;  and  so 
far  as  I  know  it,  I  will  endeavor  to  perform  it."  If  you 
can  say  this  truthfully,  you  need  not  be  troubled  about 
the  evidences  of  your  Christianity ;  they  will  take  care 
of  themselves.  Only  let  there  be  spring  in  the  air,  and 
there  will  be  crocuses  under  the  fence,  and  violets  in  the 


150  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

garden  ;  and  let  the  Sun  of  righteousness  shine  on  the 
willing  soul,  and  ere  long  it  will  blossom  with  Christian 
graces.  And  these  will  be  the  best  evidence  that. you 
have  been  convicted,  and  are  a  Christian.  And  in  all 
your  Christian  career,  never  think  of  getting  beyond  that 
state  in  which  you  will  be  under  conviction  of  sin. 


THERE  are  many  who  think  they  are  Christians  be- 
cause they  have  had  a  wonderful  conviction  :  not  because 
their  lives  are  so  good,  not  because  they  have  such  a 
sensitive  conscience,  not  because  they  perform  their  duty 
as  Christians  with  such  fidelity ;  but  because  they  had  a 
wonderful  conviction.  If  you  sit  down  to  talk  with  them, 
they  always  go  back  to  the  time  when  they  passed 
through  the  Red  Sea  in  coming  out  of  Egypt.  That  on 
which  they  base  their  hopes  is  the  circumstance  that 
once  they  were  slaves  to  the  Egyptians,  that  God  sent 
Moses  to  bring  them  forth,  that  when  pursued  by  the 
thundering  Egyptians  God  opened  a  clean  path  in  the  sea 
through  which  they  crossed  to  the  other  side,  and  that, 
like  the  Israelites,  they  wandered  forty  years  in  the  des- 
ert afterwards  !  Now,  where  a  man's  only  faith  is  based 
upon  the  fact  that  he  felt  bad  once,  you  may  be  sure  that 
he  will  act  bad  all  the  rest  of  his  life.  A  man  is  good 
because,  under  the  influence  of  God,  he  is  living  a  right- 
eous life.  What  your  conviction  was  is  of  no  account  at 
all ;  it  is  the  fruit  of  to-day  that  is  of  importance. 


I  SUPPOSE  there  never  was  an  exactly  pure  and  natu- 
ral experience  of  mind  in  the  world.  Every  experience, 
every  inspiration  of  genius,  every  conception  of  the  artist, 
every  rapture  of  the  poet,  every  impulse  of  the  orator,  is 
imperfect,  springs  from  an  imperfect  source,  arises  from  an 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  151 

unbalanced  state.  Therefore,  I  do  not  undertake  to  say 
of  any  conviction  of  sin,  that  the  circumstances  attending 
it  were  normal  and  necessary.  But  I  do  undertake  to 
say  that  men  are  suddenly  overtaken  by  a  sense  of  their 
personal  sinfulness,  which  almost  absorbs  their  life  from 
its  ordinary  channels,  which  pervades  them,  which  fills 
them,  which  controls  them,  so  that  they  sit  as  a  man  un- 
der black  clouds  beneath  Sinai,  and  pass  out  of  that  state 
with  triumph,  up  into  a  life  of  certainty  and  joy,  their 
after-life,  consistent  in  divine  holiness  to  the  end,  giving 
•witness  that  the  first  experience  had  in  it  benefit  and 
propriety. 

WHEN  a  man  organizes  purely  for  this  world,  his 
every  step  away  from  the  life  and  spring  of  youth  will  be 
apt  to  be  a  step  away  from  enjoyment,  and  his  old  age 
can  scarcely  be  other  than  barren  and  miserable. 

Ordinarily  rivers  run  small  at  the  beginning,  grow 
broader  and  broader  as  they  proceed,  and  become  widest 
and  deepest  at  the  point  where  they  enter  the  sea.  It  is 
such  rivers  that  the  Christian's  life  is  like.  But  the  life 
of  the  mere  worldly  man  is  like  those  rivers  in  Southern 
Africa  which,  proceeding  from  mountain  freshets,  are 
broad  and  deep  at  the  beginning,  and  grow  narrower  and 
more  shallow  as  they  advance.  They  waste  themselves 
by  soaking  into  the  sands,  and  at  last  they  die  out  entire- 
ly. The  farther  they  run,  the  less  there  is  of  them. 


MEN  are  afraid  of  extremes.  They  think  the  "  golden 
mean,"  as  it  is  called, — and  oftentimes  it  is  mean  enough, 
—  is  the  safest.  It  may  be  where  the  question  is  one  of 
mere  expediency,  where  no  moral  principle  is  involved. 
But  where  it  is  a  mean  that  stands  between  right  and 


152  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

wrong,  where  it  is  a  mean  that  stands  between  honor 
and  dishonor,  where  it  is  a  mean  that  stands  between 
courage  and  cowardice,  where  it  is  a  mean  that  stands 
between  selfishness  and  benevolence,  where  it  is  a  mean 
that  wants  the  benefits  of  both  sides  without  the  responsi- 
bility of  either,  then  it  is  a  point  of  unmanliness.  Zero 
begins  half  way  between  right  and  wrong ;  and  when  a 
man  is  enthroned  on  zero  in  moral  things,  you  may  un- 
derstand about  where  he  is.  He  is  in  that  point  in  which 
—  changing  the  figure  —  God  is  pleased  to  say  to  him, 
"  Because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I 
will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth."  So  much  for  a  man's 
popularity  in  heaven  who  takes  the  "  golden  mean "  be- 
tween moral  extremes ! 


IT  is  a  small  thing  for  that  fool  to  walk  across  a  cable 
with  the  roar  of  Niagara  under  him;  carrying  some  booby 
like  himself  on  his  back,  though  ten  thousand  other  fools 
go  to  gape  and  stare  at  him.  But  for  a  man  to  walk 
across  the  thread  of  daily  life,  carrying;  not  another  fool, 
but  a  soul  with  immortality  in  every  faculty,  potent,  won- 
derful in  scope  and  power  and  susceptibility,  so  as  to 
keep  it  in  balance,  is  not  a  small  thing. 


SINCE  the  earliest  periods  of  which  we  have  record, 
the  staple  scepticism  has  arisen  from  the  apparent  unreg- 
ulation  of  human  affairs.  Men  have  doubted  whether 
there  were  an  observant  God;  whether  He  cared  to 
make  distinction  between  virtue  and  vice  in  this  life ; 
whether  by  law  and  its  inherent  penalty,  or  by  an  active 
interposition  of  His  hand,  He  rewarded  virtue  and  pun- 
ished vice. 

This  arises  from  a  total  misconception  of  the  relations 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  153 

of  this  world  to  its  work.  This  is  not  God's  show-room, 
but  His  workshop.  It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that 
rudeness  and  dust  and  confusion  should  prevail  here. 
If  one  should  go  to  a  watchmaker's,  and  look  upon  an 
exquisite  watch,  should  know  the  regularity  of  its  pulsa- 
tions, the  exquisite  framework  and  adjustment  of  every 
part,  the  completeness  and  finish  of  the  whole  instrument, 
would  he  be  wise  in  saying,  "  The  shop  where  this  was 
made  must  be  rarely  clean  and  exquisitely  adjusted?" 
Let  him  go  back  and  search  for  its  beginnings ;  let  him 
see  its  beginnings;  let  him  see  the  gold  smelting;  let 
him  listen  to  the  clatter  of  hammers  and  files  ;  let  him 
see  the  confusion  of  much-used  tools,  —  the  furnace,  the 
bellows,  the  vice,  the  anvil, —  and  learn  that  infinite 
apparent  confusions  may  conspire  together  to  the  produc- 
tion of  perfect  symmetries.  While  it  was  being  made, 
the  wheels  of  the  chronometer  were  separated  ;  were  in 
different  degrees  of  finish ;  were  formed  even  in  different 
shops ;  were  brought  together  one  by  one,  and  fitted  by 
manifold  plyings.  And  when  each  part  had  found  its 
place,  the  most  difficult  labor  was  yet  to  be  done.  Its 
regulation  and  its  adjustment  for  perfect  time-keeping 
are  more  difficult  than  the  mere  construction  of  its  parts. 
Thrust  into  an  oven,  it  was  left  to  throb  in  high  degrees 
of  heat.  Then,  with  sudden  change,  plunged  into  ice,  it 
was  demanded  of  it  with  equal  beats  to  measure  time  in 
this  opposite  condition.  Nor  will  the  adjustment  be  com- 
plete and  the  regulation  perfect,  until  the  instrument 
bears  itself  substantially  even  and  alike  under  all  tem- 
peratures, in  all  positions,  and  in  all  conceivable  circum- 
stances. How  little  would  one,  inexpert  and  ignorant, 
looking  upon  the  place  where  this  watch-construction 
proceeded,  conceive  of  the  admirable  fitness  of  the  instru- 
7* 


154  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

mentalities  to  the  work  to  be  done !  How  simple  and 
foolish  is  he  who,  seeing  the  watch  without  having  seen 
the  shop,  imagines  that  so  much  perfectness  must  needs 
imply  regulated  harmony,  cleanliness,  beauty,  in  the  in- 
strumentation ! 

The  very  idea  of  this  life  is  that  it  is  a  place  in  which 
to  prepare  men  for  perfectness  in  a  life  to  come.  Per- 
fectness in  the  individual,  still  less  perfectness  in  society, 
is  no  part,  apparently,  of  the  Divine  economy  of  this 
world.  The  Great  Artificer,  we  may  hope,  discerns,  in 
the  conflict  of  passions,  in  the  rudeness  of  violence,  in  the 
attritions  and  raspings  of  men ;  in  hope,  in  despair,  in 
love,  in  hate ;  in  joy,  in  sorrow ;  in  yearnings,  in  disap- 
pointments ;  in  bafflings,  in  victories ;  —  but  so  many 
influences  which,  working  slowly,  with  seeming  discon- 
nection, and  without  obvious  results  here,  are,  neverthe- 
less, shaping  innumerable  souls,  to  revolve  in  eternal 
harmony  and  regularity  in  that  sphere  above  all  misrule, 
above  all  rudeness  and  imperfection,  where  God's  heart 
beats  time  for  the  universe,  and  every  living  creature 
throbs  sympathetic. 

IT  is  with  men  as  it  is  with  machinery.  Everybody 
that  knows  anything  about  machinery,  knows  that  it 
wastes  faster  when  it  is  allowed  to  stand  still,  than  when 
it  is  worked,  if  it  is  worked  right.  If  a  watch  stands 
still  a  year,  it  wears  out  as  much  as  it  would  in  run- 
ning properly  two  years.  But  where  machinery  runs 
without  oil,  and  squeaks  and  grinds,  it  gets  hot,  and  wears 
out  speedily.  Now  anxiety  is  in  human  life  just  what 
squeaking  and  grinding  are  in  machinery  that  is  not 
oiled.  In  life  trust  is  the  oil.  Confidence  in  God  is  that 
which  lubricates  life,  so  that  industry  and  enterprise  de- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  155 

velop  the  things  we  ought  to  have,  and  do  it  in  such  a 
way  that  they  bring  pleasure  with  them. 


IT  is  no  small  thing  for  a  man  to  have  a  rule  in  his 
mind  by  which  to  judge  every  part  of  his  life,  even 
though  every  part  of  his  life  may  not  always  conform 
to  that  rule. 

If  you  have  stood  by  the  pilot  of  a  ship,  and  watched 
him  as  he  steered  it,  you  know  that  such  is  the  build  of 
the  ship,  such  is  its  equipoise,  and  such  is  the  unequal 
motion  given  to  it  by  the  waves  and  winds,  that  no  man 
can  hold  it  exactly  to  its  course.  No  sooner  is  it  brought 
into  steering  line  than  it  is  carried  to  the  right  or  to  the 
left.  One  minute  it  is  too  far  inland.  The  next  minute 
it  is  too  far  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  pilot  is 
obliged  to  be  constantly  turning  the  wheel  to  meet  the 
various  forces  that  oppose  him.  The  steering  of  a  ship 
is  marked  by  a  succession  of  imperceptible  zigzags ;  a 
man's  life  certainly  is,  whether  a  ship's  steering  is  or 
not ;  but  where  the  voyage  is  as  wide  as  the  breast  of 
the  Atlantic,  where  it  is  the  whole  of  our  earthly  exist- 
ence, and  where  a  man  has  a  definite  purpose  which 
constitutes  his  steering  line,  and  he  comes  to  that  in  the 
end,  it  amounts  to  a  straight  voyage. 

We  see  the  same  thing  demonstrated  in  daily  life. 
We  see  supreme  purposes  which  men  have  formed  run- 
ning through  their  whole  career  in  this  world.  A  young 
man  means  to  be  a  civil  engineer.  That  is  the  thing  to 
which  his  mind  is  made  up :  not  his  father's  mind,  per- 
haps, but  his.  He  feels  his  adaptation  to  that  calling, 
and  his  drawings  toward  it.  He  is  young,  forgetful,  in- 
experienced, accessible  to  youthful  sympathies,  and  is 
frequently  drawn  aside  from  his  life  purpose.  To-day  he 


156  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

attends  a  picnic.  Next  week  he  devotes  a  day  to  some 
other  excursion.  Occasionally  he  loses  a  day  in  conse- 
quence of  fatigue  caused  by  overaction.  Thus  there  is  a 
link  knocked  out  of  the  chain  of  this  week,  and  a  link 
knocked  out  of  the  chain  of  that  week.  And  in  the 
course  of  the  summer  he  takes  a  whole  week,  or  a  fort- 
night, out  of  that  purpose.  Yet,  there  is  the  thing  in  his 
mind,  whether  he  sleeps  or  wakes.  If  you  had  asked 
him  a  month  ago  what  he  meant  to  be  in  life,  he  would 
have  replied,  "I  mean  to  be  a  civil  engineer."  And  if 
you  ask  him  to-day  what  has  been  the  tendency  of  his 
life,  he  will  say,  "  I  have  been  preparing  myself  to  be  a 
civil  engineer."  If  he  waits  and  does  nothing,  the  reason 
is  that  he  wants  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  his  purpose. 
That  purpose  governs  his  course,  and  he  will  not  engage 
in  anything  that  would  conflict  with  it. 

Now,  this  sovereign  purpose  of  a  man  to  live  for  cer- 
tain great  moral  principles  and  moral  ends ;  this  sover- 
eign purpose  of  a  man  to  live  for  the  eternal  world ;  this 
realization  by  a  man  of  God's  existence  and  God's  gov- 
ernment ;  this  determination  of  a  man  to  be  governed  by 
God's  law,  —  this  is  itself  a  settling  of  the  soul  in  a  way 
that  lays  the  foundation  for  satisfaction  and  for  peace. 
It  gives  singleness,  simplicity,  sincerity, — for  these  three 
words  cluster  around  the  same  central  idea.  It  brings 
the  whole  life  to  aim  at  one  thing ;  it  brings  the  whole 
mind  under  one  government ;  and  however  much  the 
separate  parts  may  rebel,  it  yet  holds  a  man  to  one  direc- 
tion, and  reduces  all  tilings  to  simple  tests  of  right  or 
wrong  by  a  given  and  acknowledged  standard;  but  as 
age  advances,  victories  are  gained,  education  ripens  into 
fixed  habits,  the  very  conflict  ceases,  and  the  whole  body 
is  full  of  light ! 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  157 

WHEN  we  come  in  contact  with  men  we  do  not  know 
what  they  leave  upon  us.  I  have  noticed  that  when  spi- 
ders spin  their  webs  in  bushes  they  leave  none  that  you 
can  see  at  midday.  But  the  next  day  the  dew  that  has 
lodged  upon  them  reveals  them,  and  then  you  can  see 
that  the  bushes  were  covered  with  them.  And  the  influ- 
ences which  men  exert  upon  you,  you  cannot  see  when 
you  receive  them.  It  is  only  when  they  are  subse- 
quently revealed  in  your  life  that  you  become  aware 
of  them. 


I  THINK  that  a  man  who  is  attempting  to  live  a  Chris- 
tian life  on  one  side,  and  a  worldly  life  on  the  other,  is 
like  a  sick  man  who  has  made  up  his  miud  that  what  the 
doctor  says  is  all  folly,  and  that,  since  he  does  not  like 
the  medicine  and  regimen,  he  will  do  that  which  is  most 
agreeable  to  him.  When  the  nurse  and  physician  are 
out,  he  steals  into  the  pantry,  and  loads  his  stomach  with 
things  aggravating  to  his  disease.  He  deceives  every- 
body but  Nature ;  Nature  is  never  deceived.  You  may 
call  food  what  you  please,  but  if  it  is  contrary  to  the  law 
of  digestion,  when  the  stomach  takes  it,  Nature  knows  it. 
You  may  call  your  course  in  life  what  you  please,  but 
when  your  conscience  takes  it,  and  its  effects  are  evolved, 
its  real  character  is  disclosed. 


SOME  feel  religious  teaching  because  it  falls  upon  a 
certain  sort  of  susceptibility  ;  but  they  are  only  suscepti- 
ble, not  soft.  There  are  people  who  have  ripples,  but 
never  waves ;  who  have  surface  feelings,  but  never 
depths  of  feeling.  They  never  have  deep  convictions 
or  deep  emotions ;  yet  they  are  alwaj^s  shimmering  and 
moving.  There  are  persons  that  are  like  farms  that  have 


158  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

only  Lad  surface-ploughing  three  or  four  inches  deep,  un- 
der which  is  a  hard  pan  through  which  neither  root  nor 
moisture  can  break,  so  that  what  is  planted  thereon  has 
a  sprinkling  growth,  and  a  meagre  existence. 


A  MAN  goes  into  a  community  that  has  been  under 
Puritan  teaching  for  many  years,  and  teaches  what  he 
conceives  to  be  a  better  doctrine.  The  people  there  are 
living  good  lives,  and  after  he  has  been  among  them  a 
short  time,  he  says,  "  See  the  effect  of  my  doctrine."  It 
is  not  the  effect  of  his  doctrine.  These  people  were  in- 
doctrinated in  right  views  before  he  came  among  them. 
And  righteousness  is  as  hereditary  as  vice,  and  godly 
men  transmit  moral  qualities  to  their  children  and  their 
children's  children.  Therefore  the  character  and  ten- 
dency of  a  new  doctrine  cannot  be  determined  from  what 
can  be  seen  of  its  effects  within  a  single  man's  lifetime. 


THOUGH  you  have  a  straight  line  of  apostolic  succes- 
sors, if  your  work  is  poor,  you  are  not  in  the  line  of  suc- 
cession ;  and  if  your  church  does  not  make  full-grown 
men,  it  is  not.  I  do  not  care  anything  about  the  line  of 
succession  of  my  grapes,  if  my  vineyard  brings  forth 
better  wine  than  your  vineyard  does.  You  may  say  that 
yours  came  from  those  that  Noah  planted  ;  but  they  are 
not  so  good  as  mine  after  all.  For  by  their  fruit  ye 
shall  know  them.  And  the  test  of  all  churches,  as  of  all 
orthodoxies,  and  all  doctrines,  and  all  usages,  and  all 
governments,  is  this :  What  is  their  effect  upon  the  gen- 
erations of  men  ? 


No  princely  fortune  could  be  such  a  boon  to  a  man 
as  a  disposition  or  grace  which  should  lead  him  to  say, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  159 

"  God  is  my  Father ;  I  am  heir  with  Christ  of  an  eter- 
nal inheritance  ;  and  I  cannot  be  poor,  I  cannot  be  for- 
saken." How  valiant  a  man  is  who  can  say  that ! 


WHAT  is  the  essential  idea  of  Puritanism  ?  It  is  this  : 
God,  everlasting,  sovereign,  immutable,  eternal ;  God, 
glorious  in  holiness,  and  fearful  in  praises ;  God,  the 
whole  heaven  full  of  Him  ;  God,  the  whole  earth  full  of 
Him ;  God  in  the  past  and  God  in  the  abounding  ages  of 
the  future;  God  the  universal  Father,  and  man,  God's 
child!  O,  the  dignity,  the  power,  the  glory,  the  sacred- 
ness  that  there  is  in  every  individual  man's  life,  the  mo- 
ment you  fill  the  heavens,  the  earth,  and  all  time,  full 
of  God,  and  take  every  single  living  creature,  and 
say,  "  Each  creature  born  is  God's  child ! "  How  it 
makes  every  man  more  massive  than  kingdoms !  How  it 
makes  every  man's  conscience  more  authoritative  !  What 
breadth  it  gives  to  the  conception  of  the  individual !  That 
is  the  reason  why  Puritanism  always  goes  toward  liberty. 
In  Switzerland  it  did ;  in  the  land  of  the  Huguenots  it 
did ;  in  old  Scotland  it  did  ;  in  New  England  it  did. 


THERE  has  been  a  great  deal  of  dispute  as  to  whether 
men  should  say  their  prayers  extemporaneously,  or  pre- 
compose  them,  and  read  them.  That  question  is  alto- 
gether secondary.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  the 
service  is  of  one  shape  or  another  shape.  The  question 
is,  What  is  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  administered  ?  Is  it 
for  the  sake  of  supplying  men,  or  for  the  sake  of  teaching 
men  to  supply  themselves  ?  Is  it  for  the  sake  of  bringing 
men's  hearts  into  bondage  to  forms  and  ceremonies,  or  for 
the  sake  of  organizing  independency  in  the  hearts  of 
men  ?  Many  churches  are  like  conservatories,  in  which 


160  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

the  members  are  like  a  flower  in  a  flower-pot.  There  it 
is  in  the  flower-pot,  and  it  cannot  get  out.  And  little 
sticks  are  put  down  beside  it  to  keep  it  in  a  particular 
position.  And  every  branch  that  attempts  to  go  beyond 
a  given  point  is  instantly  snipped  off,  in  order  that  the 
flower  may  assume  an  ideal  shape.  And  the  members 
of  many  churches  are  like  geraniums  trained  for  show, 
tied  up,  and  constrained  in  root  and  branch  and  stem. 
There  are  thousands  of  people  in  churches  that  sit  around 
in  their  respective  rows,  and  take  whatever  nourishment 
is  dealt  out  to  them,  and  grow  in  just  the  shape  that  is 
prescribed  for  them  by  those  that  have  them  in  charge, 
and  have  no  voice  in  determining  what  kind  of  a  struct- 
ure shall  be  made  of  them. 


WE  speak  of  the  crucifixion  of  our  passions.  In  one 
sense,  so  far  as  a  sinful  indulgence  of  them  is  concerned, 
they  are  to  be  crucified  and  slain  ;  but  in  no  other  sense 
are  they  to  be  slain.  We  are  to  use  them  so  that  there 
will  be  no  need  of  crucifying  them.  For  there  is  not  one 
primary  desire  or  appetite  in  the  human  system  that  was 
put  there  to  be  taken  out  again.  Everything  that  is  in 
a  man  was  put  in  him  for  no  other  reason  than  because 
it  was  necessary  to  the  symmetry  of  the  whole  ;  and  the 
attempt  to  crucify  any  of  our  normal,  lawful  desires,  is  an 
attempt  to  mutilate  God's  perfect  work.  We  hare  a 
right  to  every  one  of  our  appetites  and  passions ;  and 
that,  not  for  suppression,  but  for  use,  so  that  we  use  them 
in  subordination  to  the  higher  moral  sentiments  and  af- 
fections. 


THE  world  is  full  of  imbecile  men  whose  parents'  pride 
or  vanity  was  such  that  they  would  not  allow  them  to  do 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  161 

the  things  which  they  were  fitted  to  do,  and  who  try  to 
do  what  they  never  had  a  function  for.  Their  life  is  one 
long  failure,  and  they  are  forever  complaining  because 
life  is  so  misadjusted. 

THERE  are  many  children  that  are  brought  up  with 
care  and  assiduity,  who,  when  they  are  deprived  of  the 
sustaining  influences  of  their  parent*,  seem  bankrupted; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  children  that  are 
brought  up  without  any  care  or  foresight,  who  make 
splendid  men.  And  people  say,  "  There  is  no  use  of 
family  government."  The  first  example  does  not  prove 
that  family  government  tends  to  the  destruction  of  chil- 
dren. The  parents  took  care  of  their  children,  and  would 
not  let  them  take  care  of  themselves.  They  did  not  give 
them  the  idea  that  they  could  take  care  of  themselves. 
They  did  not  teach  them  not  to  need  to  be  taken  care  of. 
They  would  not  let  them  stand  alone.  They  were  afraid 
that  if  they  put  them  on  their  feet  they  would  run  away, 
and  so  they  did  not  put  them  on  their  feet.  They  were 
afraid  that  if  they  allowed  them  to  use  their  hands  they 
would  do  mischief,  and  so  they  kept  them  tied.  The 
consequence  was  that  when  they  were  eighteen,  or  nine- 
teen, or  twenty  years  of  age, — just  at  that  critical  period 
when  reaction  is  most  apt  to  come  ;  just  at  that  critical 
period  when  the  child  passes  from  boyhood  to  manhood  ; 
just  at  that  critical  period  when  the  parent  throws  the 
child  on  his  own  responsibility,  —  the  consequence  was 
that  then  these  children  did  not  know  how  to  stand,  or 
walk,  or  take  care  of  themselves,  and  they  went  to  the 
devil!  And  people  said,  "  That  is  what  comes  of  Chris- 
tian teaching.  That  is  the  way  the  children  of  religious 
parents  turn  out." 

K 


162  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  was  it  in  the  other  case,  in 
which  people  seemed  to  neglect  their  children  entirely, 
and  in  which,  notwithstanding  this,  the  children  turned 
out  well  ?  The  parents  neglected  the  children  in  some 
things,  but  in  some  things  they  conformed  to  God's  funda- 
mental law  of  letting  every  man  take  care  of  himself  to 
the  extent  of  his  ability.  The  influence  of  the  neglect 
was  therefore  superficial.  The  parents  were  practising 
self-reliance,  and  the  children,  gaining  confidence  from 
their  example,  practised  it  also.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  children,  when  the  parents  died,  or  when  they 
went  out  from  under  the  parental  roof,  knew  how  to 
stand  on  their  own  root,  and  were  saved. 


Do  not  go  back  to  monkish  days,  and  take  on  ascetic 
ideas  of  religion.  If  you  will  go  back,  go  back  to  the 
Jewish  times,  where  men  worshipped  largely  in  festivities ; 
where,  when  they  came  to  the  temple,  they  came  with 
such  outbursts  of  pleasure,  such  uproarious  rejoicings, 
that  the  writers  who  described  the  tumult  which  pre- 
vailed on  such  occasions,  spoke  of  it  as  the  sound  of 
mighty  thunderings,  and  the  voice  of  many  waters.  The 
Jews  were  cheerful.  They  had  not  much  mirth,  but  they 
had  great  hilarity.  The  Old  Testament  is  full  of  cheer- 
fulness, of  buoyancy,  and  commands  to  it. 


MANY  persons  suppose  that  when  a  man  becomes  con- 
verted, he  of  necessity  becomes  solemn.  They  suppose 
that  a  Christian  is  like  a  man  who  is  looking  in  a  dark 
pit  all  the  time.  They  think  that  there  must  have  been 
a  mistake  made  in  the  creation  of  the  mind.  But  God, 
when  He,  in  infinite  creative  wisdom,  looked  round  about 
and  selected  the  traits  for  the  human  soul,  salient,  mag- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  163 

nificcnt  among  them  He  put  imagination,  which  is  in  the 
mind  what  a  diamond  is  upon  the  bosom,  sparkling  and 
throwing  its  light  upon  every  side.  And  when  He  put 
imagination  there,  He  meant  that  it  should  sparkle. 
And  wit,  with  its  concomitants  of  humor,  mirth,  and 
conviviality  in  intellectual  things,  was  likewise  placed  in 
the  mind  by  Divine  intention ;  as  was  also  hope.  And 
these  three  traits  —  hope,  wit,  and  imagination  —  go  to 
constitute  what  we  call  the  buoyant  temperament.  But  it 
is  supposed  by  many  that  while  a  man  is  a  worldling, 
while  he  makes  no  profession  of  religion,  he  may  laugh, 
and  carry  himself  gayly,  and  sparkle  in  this  direction  and 
in  that,  and  indulge  in  his  quips  and  witty  sayings,  and  be 
a  radiant,  entertaining  man  ;  but  that  when  he  becomes 
convicted  of  sin,  and  converted,  he  must  put  a  snuffer 
over  the  imagination,  shut  the  door  on  mirthfulness,  and 
repress  all  those  elements  which  give  hilarity  or  gayety  to 
life.  They  think  that  when  a  man  becomes  a  Christian, 
he  must  be  constantly  under  the  influence  of  veneration 
and  of  awe,  and  that  he  must  think  of  nothing  but  the 
solemnity  of  the  cause  that  he  has  espoused,  and  of  his 
awful  responsibility  before  God. 

Now,  God  wants  the  whole  soul.  If  He  had  not 
wanted  your  wit,  He  would  not  have  put  it  into  you. 
If  He  had  not  wanted  your  imagination,  He  would  not 
have  put  that  into  you.  If  He  had  wanted  no  stars  in 
the  firmament,  no  stars  would  have  been  there.  If  there 
is  a  flower  in  the  world,  God  wants  that  flower.  If  there 
is  a  tree  on  the  earth,  He  wants  that  tree.  And  if  there 
is  a  trait  in  the  human  mind,  He  wants  that  trait.  You 
may  abuse  it ;  you  may  employ  it  in  infelicitous  ways ; 
but  that  has  to  do  with  the  question  of  regulation  and  ed- 
ucation. I  aver  that  the  perfect  man  is  the  man  that  has 


164  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

developed  all  the  radiant,  joy-breeding,  and  joy-dispers- 
ing traits  of  his  nature.  It  is  a  shame  to  let  these  traits 
go  to  the  hands  of  the  adversaries,  and  exclude  them 
from  Christianity. 

"  EVEN  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like 
one  of  these."  I  know  he  never  was ;  nor  has  anybody 
else  ever  been ;  nor  will  anybody  ever  be.  I  can  show 
one  apple-tree  that  puts  to  shame  all  the  men  and  women 
that  have  attempted  to  dress  since  the  world  began. 


A  MAN  has  lived  in  a  cellar,  where  he  has  been  a  poor, 
dungeoned  creature,  striving  to  live  a  life  which  was  pro- 
longed death  itself.  At  last,  he  goes  up  one  story ;  and 
then  one  story  higher ;  and  then  one  story  higher ;  and 
he  continues  to  go  up  little  by  little,  till  by  and  by  it 
seems  to  him  that  there  must  be  some  place  where  it  is 
lighter.  He  keeps  on  exploring  and  going  up  for  a  time 
longer,  and  finally  reaches  the  roof.  There  he  beholds 
the  heavens  over  his  head,  and  the  sun  in  the  east,  and 
he  is  entranced  with  amazement  by  the  glory  of  the 
things  which  surround  him.  And  yet,  every  single  day 
during  his  existence,  and  for  countless  ages,  the  heavens 
have  hung  above  the  earth,  the  sun  has  shone  forth  in 
splendor,  and  the  other  creations  which  astonish  his  vision 
have  been  beheld  by  men.  For  forty  years  he  has  been  in 
the  cellar,  and  now  that  he  has  come  up  where  he  can  see 
them,  it  seems  to  him  that  they  have  now  appeared  for 
the  first  time,  because  he  sees  them  for  the  first  time. 

So  it  is  with  the  disclosures  of  the  love  of  God  in 
Chirst  Jesus  to  Christians.  They  think  that  the  time 
when  they  first  realize  that  love,  is  the  time  when  it  is 
first  shed  upon  them.  But  as  God  pours  abroad  infinite 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  165 

breadths  of  His  Being  without  an  eye  except  His  own  to 
behold  them,  so  He  spreads  over  our  heads  an  unknown, 
an  unmeasured,  and  an  immeasurable  love,  waiting  for 
our  recognition,  but  in  nowise  depending  upon  it.  I 
know  of  nothing  that  is  calculated  to  give  more  hope  to 
the  Christian  in  the  midst  of  his  discouragements,  than 
this  feeling,  —  namely,  "  I  am  not  to  be  saved  because  I 
am  so  good,  but  because  God  is  so  good." 


IT  is  argued  by  some  that  men  will  take  advantage  of 
the  love  of  God.  No,  not  men.  You  must  get  some  oth- 
er name  for  those  lazar-house  creatures  that  are  capable 
of  doing  that. 

If  I  were  greatly  in  want  of  money,  and  I  went  for 
aid  to  an  old,  usurious,  miserly  man,  who  hated  to  give, 
and  only  gave  for  a  consideration,  and  scolded  when  he 
gave,  I  do  not  know  but  I  should  take  a  little  comfort  in 
pestering  him.  I  suppose  there  is  a  little  relish  of  tor- 
ment which  every  one  feels  in  dealing  with  such  a  man. 
I  presume  I  should  enjoy  going  to  him  and  getting  out  of 
him  all  I  could.  But  if  I  went  for  aid  to  a  man  of  a  kind 
and  generous  nature,  the  case  would  be  different.  I  get 
into  trouble,  and  go  to  such  a  man,  when  he  meets  me 
with  a  face  bathed  in  smiles,  and  says,  "You  have  come 
again  to  give  me  the  pleasure  of  assisting  you."  I  say, 
"  I  have  liabilities  to  the  amount  of  ten  pounds,  which  I 
am  unable  to  meet."  "  What !  is  that  all  ?  "  he  exclaims, 
and  gives  me  twenty.  I  attempt  to  express  my  obliga- 
tions to  him,  when  he  says,  "  Not  at  all,  —  not  at  all " ; 
and  shoves  me  out  of  his  house.  As  I  start  to  go  away, 
he  says,  "  I  shall  see  you  again ;  I  shall  get  another 
chance  at  you  ;  I  shall  have  more  pleasure  out  of  you  !  " 
By  and  by  I  go  to  him  again,  hanging  my  head,  when  his 


166  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

first  words  to  me  are,  "  Ah  !  your  pocket  is  empty  and 
your  head  is  down.  Come  iii !  come  in  !  You  cannot 
get  away  so  easily."  And  again  he  gives  me  the  money 
I  need.  At  length  I  get  into  deeper  trouble.  Sickness 
enters  my  family,  and  my  means  run  out.  In  my  distress 
I  go  to  him  once  more.  The  moment  he  sees  me,  he 
says,  "  What !  spent  your  money  so  soon  ?  I  declare,  I 
do  not  know  but  I  shall  have  to  make  you  my  son.  I 
must  look  after  your  affairs.  I  see  you  cannot  attend  to 
them  yourself."  He  sweeps  away  my  debts,  and  supplies 
my  present  wants,  and  urges  me  to  call  on  him  whenever 
I  find  myself  pressed  for  means.  Now  suppose  I  say, 
when  I  get  by  myself,  "  This  old  fellow  is  so  kind  and 
good  that  I  can  practise  on  him,  and  I  will  take  advan- 
tage of  his  kindness  and  goodness,"  what  ought  I  to 
be  baptized  ?  Toad  ?  snake  ?  No,  I  will  not  so  slander 
savage  animals !  I  ought  to  be  baptized  devil! 


THERE  is  something  unspeakably  affecting  to  me  in  the 
thought  of —  what  may  I  call  it  ?  —  the  solitude  of  Di- 
vine love  for  men,  and  its  patient  continuance  in  God 
without  consciousness  on  our  part.  There  is  something 
sweet  in  interpreting  the  nature  of  God  from  the  family. 
Now,  who  can  tell  the  sum  of  the  thoughts  which  the 
mother  bestows  on  the  child.?  All  through  his  infancy 
he  is  scarcely  out  of  her  mind.  She  watches  him  as  he 
sleeps  in  the  cradle.  She  wakes  at  night  to  go  and  see 
if  all  is  safe  in  the  room  where  he  is.  All  day  long,  as 
he  plays,  her  eyes  are  upon  him,  to  see  that  no  harm 
comes  to  him.  And  all  through  his  boyhood  her  love 
and  care  surround  him.  And  yet  he  is  unconscious  of 
most  of  her  solicitude  concerning  him.  He  knows  that 
she  loves  him,  but  he  only  feels  the  pulsations  of  her 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  167 

love  once  in  a  while.  I  think  we  never  know  the  love 
of  the  parent  for  the  child  till  we  become  parents.  I 
think  that  when  we  first  bend  over  our  own  cradle  God 
throws  back  the  temple  door,  and  reveals  to  us  the  sa- 
credness  and  mystery  of  a  father's  and  a  mother's  love  to 
us.  And  I  think  that  in  later  years,  when  they  have 
gone  from  us,  there  is  always  a  certain  sorrow  that  we 
cannot  tell  them  that  we  have  found  it  out.  I  think  that 
one  of  the  deepest  experiences  of  a  noble  nature  in  refer- 
ence to  loved  ones  that  have  passed  beyond  this  world,  is 
the  thought  of  what  he  might  have  been  to  them,  and 
what  he  might  have  done  for  them,  if  he  had  known, 
while  they  were  living,  what  he  has  learned  since  they 
died. 

Now,  when  I  think  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  the  love 
of  God  in  Christ,  overhanging  my  life ;  when  I  think  of 
the  long  period  during  which  I  had  no  conception  of  that 
love ;  when  I  think  of  the  long  period  during  which  I 
resisted  and  struggled  against  it ;  when  I  think  that 
during  these  long  periods  God,  unchanged  and  unchange- 
able, brooded  over  me  and  yearned  for  me  without  my 
knowing  it,  —  when  I  think  of  these  things,  they  are  in- 
expressibly affecting  to  me.  And,  moreover,  they  bring 
the  nature  of  God  into  such  reality  and  form  that  I  feel 
that  I  can  comprehend  Him  and  worship  Him. 

Not  only  does  God  think  of  us  constantly,  and  love  us 
steadfastly,  but  there  is  a  healing,  curative  nature  forever 
outworking  from  the  Divine  mind  upon  ours,  although 
we  may  not  cooperate  voluntarily  with  His  will.  My 
impression  is  that  all  those  moral  tendencies  we  feel,  all 
those  yearnings  we  have,  are  the  crying  out  of  the  soul 
for  God,  under  the  influence  and  ministration  of  His  love 
to  us.  I  think  that  every  throb  of  our  spirits  that  an- 


168  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

swers  to  spiritual  things  is  caused  by  the  influence  of 
God.  We  are  attracted  by  Him,  though  we  may  not  be 
conscious  of  it.  As  the  child  that  is  sent  away  from 
home  to  school,  under  circumstances  such  that  it  does  not 
know  its  friends,  gets  home-sick,  and  sobs,  and  cries  for 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  father  and  mother  ;  so  there  are 
many  home-sick  men  who  feel  in  themselves  strange 
yearnings  for  they  know  not  what.  It  is  their  soul  cry- 
ing out  for  God  because  He  is  working  upon  them  by  the 
power  of  His  thought  and  love,  —  only  they  do  not  know 
its  language. 

And  that  is  not  all.  It  seems  to  me  we  have  testi- 
mony in  the  workings  of  the  providence  of  God  in  the 
experiences  of  our  daily  life,  that  God's  love  is  still  shed 
upon  us,  although  we  may  be  unconscious  of  it.  I  recol 
lect  to  have  read  the  case  of  a  man  in  a  city  of  southern 
Europe  who  spent  his  life  in  getting  property,  and 
became  unpopular  among  his  fellow-citizens  on  account 
of  what  seemed  to  them  his  miserly  spirit.  When  his 
will  was  read  after  his  death,  it  stated  that  he  had  been 
poor,  and  had  suffered  from  a  lack  of  water,  that  he  had 
seen  the  poor  of  the  city  also  suffering  from  a  lack  of 
water,  and  that  he  had  devoted  his  life  to  the  accumu- 
lation of  means  sufficient  to  build  an  aqueduct  to  bring 
water  to  the  city,  so  that  forever  afterwards  the  poor 
should  be  supplied  with  it.  It  turned  out  that  the  man 
whom  the  poor  had  cursed  till  his  death,  had  been  labor- 
ing to  provide  water  for  the  refreshment  of  themselves 
and  their  children.  Oh !  how  God  has  been  building  an 
aqueduct  to  bring  the  water  of  life  to  us,  He  not  inter- 
preting His  acts,  and  we  not  understanding  them  ! 


IP  you  had  gone  to  Wesley's  room,  when  John  and 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  1G9 

Charles  met  in  the  University,  and  Whitfield  and  others 
met  with  them,  and  looked  upon  this  handful  of  men  who 
were  derided  as  the  offscouring  of  the  earth  in  their  day, 
would  you  have  suspected  what  a  fair  fabric  was  to  arise 
through  their  humble  instrumentality?  You  never  would 
have  dreamed  of  it.  For  God  seemed  to  be  everywhere 
but  with  them.  No  flaming  chariot  came  down  to  them, 
no  silver  trumpet  sounded  before  them ;  no  messengers 
from  heaven  led  them  ;  no  angel  choirs  sang  to  them  as 
they  sang  to  shepherd  ears  when  Christ  came.  They 
were  poor,  hated,  bemobbed  men.  It  was  on  that  very 
account  that  they  became  the  men  they  did.  The  same 
elements  were  with  them  which  accompanied  the  advent 
of  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem.  For  whenever  Christ  is  born 
into  the  world,  He  comes  in  as  when  He  was  first  born. 
He  came  in  at  the  bottom ;  He  came  in  through  a  manger, 
with  the  poor  standing  round  about  Him ;  and  whoever, 
professing  the  name  of  Christ,  comes  in  in  any  other  way 
is  a  thief  and  a  robber. 


WHEN  a  simple  child  is  by  his  father  first  taken  out  to 
sea,  and  the  storm  arises,  and  terrible  waves  run  in  upon 
the  ship,  and  winds  smite  it,  and  it  reels  and  careens,  and 
the  groaning  timbers  strain,  and  the  sails  and  cordage  fill 
the  air  with  clack  and  clamor,  the  child  is  sure  that  safety 
is  at  an  end,  and  that  destruction  is  upon  them  ;  and  he 
is  amazed  to  see  the  captain,  his  father,  going  about 
sternly  resolute,  but  without  quailing;  the  man  at  the 
helm  calm,  watchful,  but  not  afraid  ;  and  the  sailors  alert 
and  hearty  in  obedience.  After  a  while,  the  child  begins 
to  gather  confidence,  too ;  not  so  much  because  he  sees 
how  they  are  to  be  kept  safely, — for  every  time  he  looks 
over  the  side  of  the  vessel  his  fear  takes  possession  of 

8 


170  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

him  again,  —  as  by  the  conviction  that  his  father  knows 
how  to  save  them,  if  he  does  not  see  how.  He  puts  con- 
fidence in  him.  Instead  of  trusting  in  his  own  sense,  in 
this  matter  of  danger,  he  trusts  in  this  being  who  seems 
now  to  him  almost  superhuman.  And  we  praise  the  child 
for  doing  so.  We  admire  in  the  child  those  qualities 
which  lead  him  to  have  such  confidence  in  his  father 
as  to  rebuke  his  own  senses.  And  we  think  that  such 
distrust  of  one's  own  inexperience,  and  confidence  in 
another's  experience,  is  not  only  heroic,  but  almost  di- 
vine. It  is  in  a  child ;  and  it  is  in  everybody,  if  it  be 
exercised  toward  One  that  holds  the  same  relation  to 
him  that  the  child's  father  does  to  the  child. 


IP  you  look  in  detail  into  the  history  of  the  Puritans  it 
seems  hard  that  they  should  have  been  treated  with  such 
contempt  as  was  heaped  upon  them.  "Well,  it  depends 
upon  what  was  to  be  made  of  them.  If  it  was  desired  to 
make  puff-balls  of  them  ;  if  it  was  desired  to  make  imbe- 
ciles of  them ;  if  it  was  desired  to  swell  out  their  skin 
with  fatness,  and  put  them  into  the  high  places  of  the 
earth  as  idols,  and  worship  them,  and  make  them  the  re- 
cipients of  passing  enjoyment,  then  the  worst  things  that 
could  have  befallen  them,  were  the  things  which  befell 
the  old  Puritans.  But  when  a  man  wants  to  make  a 
sword,  he  does  not  deal  with  it  as  you  would  deal  with  a 
baby  that  you  wanted  to  soothe.  He  takes  the  ore,  and 
plumps  it  into  a  red-hot  furnace,  and  melts  it,  and  takes 
it  out,  and  puts  it  back  again,  and  stews  it  over,  and 
subjects  it  to  a  series  of  other  purifying  processes,  and  at 
last  it  comes  out  steel.  Then  he  puts  it  under  a  trip- 
hammer, which  smites  it  as  if  the  thunder  were  kissing  it, 
until  every  particle  that  flies  off  from  it  is  like  a  spark 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  171 

of  fire.  Then  it  is  good  to  make  swords  that  will  stand 
in  the  day  of  battle.  It  must  go  through  fire  and  water 
if  you  would  have  it  make  a  sword  that  will  not  betray 
you  in  the  hour  of  trial.  And  when  God  made  the 
Puritans,  he  made  them  as  we  make  swords.  And  I 
tell  you,  they  were  swords  of  God.  And  men  that  pulled 
them  out  of  their  scabbards  wished  they  could  push  them 
back  again ! 

IT  does  me  good,  sometimes,  to  see  all  things  going 
just  right,  and  everybody  crying  about  them !  It  does 
me  good  to  see  things  moving  forward  with  God  at  the 
helm,  and  everybody  offering  prayers,  and  burning  wax 
candles,  and  making  vows,  and  telling  what  they  will  do 
if  they  can  be  saved !  It  does  me  good  to  see  men  racing 
about  as  if  all  creation  was  after  them,  and  they  were  on 
the  point  of  being  devoured  by  dragons !  It  does  me 
good  to  see  men  who  profess  to  be  Christians ;  who  ac- 
cept every  one  of  the  thirty-nine  articles  of  faith,  and 
would  accept  forty-nine  if  it  were  necessary ;  who  are  all 
the  time  talking  about  God  and  heaven  ;  who  are  all  the 
time  singing  such  hymns  as  "  When  I  can  read  my  title 
clear  "  ;  who  are  active  in  prayer-meetings,  delightful  in 
revivals,  charming  in  conference-meetings  ;  who  are  very 
devout  and  trusting  on  Sunday,  —  it  does  me  good^o  see 
such  men,  the  moment  they  get  into  Monday  or  Tuesday, 
and  hear  the  least  rustle  in  the  heavens,  forget  Bible,  and 
prayers,  and  hymns,  and  God,  and  eternity,  and  ask, 
"  Where  is  my  chest  ?  where  are  my  customers  ?  where 
are  my  prospects  ?  where  are  my  notes  ?  where  is  my 
prosperity  ?  "  When  men  look  after  God,  they  generally 
look  in  the  way  in  which  their  real  god  is ;  and  when  I 
see  men  in  times  of  trouble  running  after  worldly  things 


172  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

instead  of  looking  to  God,  I  say  to  myself,  "  These  are 
your  idols ;  these  are  what  you  believe  in."  Let  them 
take  counsel  of  such  things,  if  they  will. 

But,  are  we  to  be  among  that  puling  crew  ?  Are  we 
to  be  children  of  fear,  —  we  that  are  descendants  of  men 
who  lived  without  sight,  purely  by  faith ;  who  steered 
through  stormy  seas  and  ages,  with  faces  turned  upward ; 
who  were  wise  toward  earth,  because  they  were  wise  to- 
ward heaven  ?  Are  we  to  be  degenerate  children  of  such 
ancestors,  and  to  quake  with  fear  lest  God  shall  now 
abandon  or  forget  His  own  purposes,  or  let  go  the  inter- 
ests that  are  as  dear  to  Him  as  the  apple  of  His  eye  ? 
I  am  ashamed  of  anybody  that  is  afraid.  Let  us  sing 
when  other  people  cry ;  and  laugh  when  other  people 
scowl ;  and  walk  elastic  when  other  people  trudge  with 
lead  in  their  shoes.  For  men  that  have  lead  in  their 
shoes  generally  have'it  in  their  head,  too!  It  is  not  for 
us  to  be  without  hope  and  comfort.  It  is  for  us  to  ask, 
"  Which  way  is  righteousness  going,  which  way  is  justice 
going,  which  way  is  humanity  going,  which  way  is  truth 
going,  which  way  is  social  purity  going,  which  way  is 
love  going,  among  a  great  people  ?  "  I  do  not  care  which 
way  the  earth  is  going.  I  want  to  take  my  direction 
from  God's  brightest  constellations,  and  steer  by  them. 


No  man  would  suspect  what  the  kitchen  was  from  the 
banquet ;  and  certainly  no  man  would  suspect  what  the 
banquet  was  from  the  kitchen.  No  man  seeing  the  dye- 
vat,  would  suspect  what  the  finished  silk  was;  and  no 
man  seeing  the  finished  silk,  would  suspect  where  it  came 
from.  And  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  world  come 
from  causes  in  which,  when  you  look  at  them,  you  see  no 
prophecy  of  their  results ;  because  God,  working  in  the 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  173 

great  sphere  of  the  universe,  and  in  the  vast  sweep  of 
time,  by  so  many  instrumentalities,  and  instrumentalities 
of  such  largeness  —  working  in  one  century  for  the  next, 
and  in  that  for  the  next  —  outruns  the  proportions  of  our 
working  and  our  following.  But  if  you  go  back  and  look 
at  past  ages,  you  shall  find  that  those  things  which  have 
seemed  the  most  prosperous,  have  been  the  least  so ;  and 
that  those  things  which  have  seemed  the  most  disastrous, 
have  been  the  most  prolific  of  good. 


IP  men  begin  to  preach  the  gospel  in  its  relations  to  a 
better  state  of  society,  if  men  begin  to  apply  the  Gospel  to 
questions  of  war,  questions  of  slavery,  questions  of  usury, 
questions  of  national  intercommunication,  people  start 
back,  and  say,  "  The  Gospel  was  ordained  for  the  salva- 
tion of  men's  souls  ;  and  you  are  going  out  of  your  way 
when  you  preach  of  these  extrinsic  things."  The  pub- 
lishers of  religious  books  publish  those  which  are  for  the 
conviction  and  the  conversion  of  men,  for  their  souls'  sal- 
vation, and  let  all  other  questions  alone.  It  is  right  that 
they  should  publish  such  books ;  but  the  implication  that 
the  only  end  of  the  Gospel  in  this  world  is  to  be  a 
wrecker's  boat,  to  be  sent  out  to  a  ship  rolling  dismasted 
on  the  tempestuous  sea,  and  take  off  those  that  are  in 
danger,  the  crew,  and  save  them,  is  not  right.  While  it 
is  a  boat  sent  to  a  ship  rolling  dismasted  on  the  sea,  it  is 
to  save  both  the  ship  and  the  crew.  It  is  the  design  of 
the  .Gospel  to  bring  the  .old  ship  into  port,  to  rig  her 
again,  and  to  send  her  out  with  crew  after  crew,  and 
maintain  her  on  the  water,  and  not  let  her  founder  nor 
go  down.  Or,  to  drop  the  figure,  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  while  it  has  a  special  reference  to  the  con- 
dition of  each  generation,  has  also  a  comprehensive  refer- 


174  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ence  to  the  condition  of  successive  generations  of  the 
world,  from  the  earliest  periods  down  to  the  dawn  of  that 
millennial  day  in  which  the  race,  regenerated,  shall  yet 
stand.  The  Gospel  contemplates  something  more  glori- 
ous than  the  mere  individual  salvation  of  men  from 
period  to  period ;  it  contemplates  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  as  well  as  of  individual  generations  of  the  world. 
And  while  it  does  possess  an  individual  application  to 
each  class  and  period,  while  it  does  seek  to  convict  and 
convert  men,  and  build  them  up  as  far  as  it  can  in  their 
day,  it  has  a  larger  purpose,  —  the  augmentation  of  future 
world-character.  The  Gospel,  then,  is  to  save,  not  indi- 
viduals alone,  but  the  race ;  and  to  save  them,  not  by 
plucking  them  out  of  the  world  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation, but  by  making  each  successive  generation  higher, 
and  stronger,  and  nobler,  until  the  world  shall  be  like  a 
bride  dressed  for  her  wedding,  that  God,  the  Husband, 
may  embrace  it  and  lead  it  to  the  bridal  altar.  The  par- 
tial idea,  glorious  as  it  is,  becomes  narrow  when  you 
compare  it  with  the  fulness  of  the  whole.  I  think  the 
salvation  of  each  individual  generation  is  a  work  worthy 
of  the  blood  of  the  Saviour,  and  of  His  death ;  but  for 
the  race  to  be  disenthralled,  and  enabled  to  stand  amid 
the  waves  and  storms  of  time,  —  that  is  more  glorious 
yet  And  that  is  the  Scriptural  ideal. 


GOD  is  united  to  us,  and  we  are  united  to  Him,  not  by 
any  form  of  matter,  not  by  physical  conjunction  or  con- 
tiguity, but  by  the  intersphering  of  soul-life.  It  is  that 
which  knits  us  to  Him.  Our  thoughts  reach  out  and 
thread  themselves  to  His  thoughts,  and  thus  bring  us 
toward  Him. 

Hence,  God's  union  with  men  is  not  a  shadow,  is  not  a 


110 YAL  TRUTHS.  175 

figure,  is  not  a  dream :  it  is  the  statement  of  a  fact  as 
literal  as  any  law  in  nature.  The  union  of  sunlight  with 
vegetables  is  not  more  real.  The  flow  of  nourishing  sap 
in  fruits  is  not  more  literal  than  the  interfusion  and  soul- 
union  of  God's  soul  with  men's. 

What  a  wonderful  and  glorious  doctrine  is  this,  that 
the  soul  of  God  touches  the  soul  of  man !  As  there  is 
no  babe  cradled  and  rocked  that  has  not  its  mother,  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  life,  to  overhang  it  by  night  and 
by  day,  to  kiss  it  as  it  sleeps,  and  to  cover  it  with  smiles 
and  caresses  when  it  wakes  ;  so  every  creature  that  is 
born  into  life  has  a  God  whose  ever-watchful  soul  broods 
tenderly  over  it  by  day  and  by  night,  and  who  inter- 
spheres  it  in  His  own  radiant  thought  and  feeling. 


CHRIST  was  not  so  much  with  His  disciples  when 
wearing  a  human  body,  and  walking  with  them,  as  after 
His  ascension.  He  did  not  go  so  much  away  from  them 
when  taken  into  heaven,  as  He  had  done  while  on  earth. 
He  had  been  separated  from  them,  as  it  were,  in  the  body. 
The  spirit  has  its  poorest  chance  in  this  world,  where  it 
has  to  work  through  an  untransparent  body.  And  it  was 
needful  that  He  should  be  taken  up,  that  He  might  con- 
summate that  spiritual  union  which  was  possible  to  a  less 
degree  in  the  body  than  out  of  the  body. 

The  eye,  the  ear,  the  hand,  cannot  connect  us  with 
each  other ;  for  although  we  gaze,  although  we  listen,  al- 
though we  clasp  electric  hands,  it  is  something  within  the 
flesh  to  which  the  eye  makes  its  report,  to  which  the  ear 
makes  its  report,  to  which  every  sense  makes  its  report. 
Every  man  is  conscious  of  something  inside  that  is  not  of 
the  body.  It  is  the  soul  that  finds  the  soul.  It  is  spirit 
that  recognizes  spirit.  Inward  spiritual  uuity  is  first; 


176  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  the  unity  of  sense  is  but  its  representative  or  symbol. 
The  only  substantial  union  of  affection  is  that  which 
comes  from  the  touching  of  soul  with  soul.  It  is  invisi- 
ble and  spiritual. 

Christ  ascended  is  nearer  to  the  world,  more  apprehen- 
sible, and  more  at  one  with  the  soul  of  every  believer, 
than  if  He  stood  clothed  in  a  body,  visibly,  before  men. 
It  was  needful,  perhaps,  for  the  disciple,  that  Christ 
should  disappear  from  the  sense,  in  order  to  reappear  to 
his  inward  life  and  spirit. 


WHAT  is  the  doctrine  of  'the  Holy  Ghost  ?  It  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  interworking  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon 
the  souls  of  men.  I  have  no  philosophy  about  it.  All  I 
say  is  this :  that  God  knows  what  is  the  secret  way  in 
which  mind  reaches  mind.  I  do  not,  —  you  do  not.  I 
do  not  know  why  words  on  my  tongue  wake  up  thoughts 
corresponding  to  those  words  in  you.  I  do  not  know 
why  the  soul  of  man,  like  a  complex  instrument  of  won- 
drous scope,  is  played  upon  by  my  words,  so  that  there 
are  waked  up  in  it  notes  along  the  whole  scale  of  being. 
I  do  not  understand  why  these  things  are  so,  but  un- 
questionably they  are  so.  I  do  not  know  how  the  mother 
pours  her  affection  on  the  child's  heart;  but  she  does. 
Two  stars  never  shone  into  each  other  as  two  loving 
souls  shine  into  each  other.  I  know  it  is  so,  but  I  do  not 
know  why  it  is  so.  I  do  not  know  how  soul  touches  soul, 
how  thought  touches  thought,  or  how  feeling  touches  feel- 
ing ;  but  I  know  it  does. 

Now  that  which  we  see  in  the  lower  departments  of 
life,  —  that  which  exists  between  you  and  your  friends, 
and  me  and  my  friends,  —  that  I  take,  and  by  my  imagi- 
nation I  lift  it  up  into  the  Divine  nature,  and  give  it 


ROYAJ.  TRUTHS.  177 

depth  and  scope  and  universality ;  and  then  I  have  some 
conception  of  the  doctrine  of  God's  Spirit  poured  upon 
the  human  soul. 


THE  moment  a  man's  heart  touches  the  heart  of  Christ 
in  living  faith,  he  becomes,  whether  he  knows  it  or  not, 
the  brother  of  every  other,  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  who 
has  come  into  the  same  relationship  with  Christ.  Who- 
ever is  united  to  Christ,  is  brother  or  sister  to  everybody 
else  that  is  united  to  Him. 


THE  whole  brotherhood  of  Christian  men,  in  all  the 
earth,  that  now  live,  are  mine.  And  in  this  great  house- 
hold there  is  to  the  soul  no  division  such  as,  from  the 
weaknesses  and  imperfections  of  life,  exists  in  external 
matters.  Every  good  man  is,  so  far,  of  my  faith.  Every 
Christian  man  is  therefore  mine,  simply  because  lie  is 
Christ's.  I  am  Christ's,  —  though  most  unworthy,  — 
and  He  is  mine.  Wonderful,  that  my  lips  should  be  per- 
mitted to  say  that  I  own  God!  Nor  would  I  say  it  if  it 
had  not  been  said,  "  All  things  are  yours."  I  would  not 
say  it  if  it  had  not  been  said  that  I  was  heir  with  Christ, 
because  He  became  my  brother.  I  would  not  dare  to  say 
it  if  these  things  had  not  been  said.  But  now  I  dare  go  to 
God,  unabashed  and  undaunted,  and  say  to  Him,  "  Since 
I  am  thine,  whatever  thou  ownest  in  man  throughout  the 
universe,  I  own.  All  men  are  indeed  mine.  I  am 
united  to  them.  I  am  related  to  everything  that  has  got 
my  nature  and  thine." 

I  wish  I  knew  more  of  them.  It  comforts  me  to  be- 
lieve that  the  silent  ones  are  sometimes  as  rich  as  the 
noisiest  ones,  —  that  the  unfruitful  in  outward  things  are 
contributing  to  the  nations  more  than  external  labor. 
8*  L 


178  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

There  are  men  in  dungeons  that  the  world  could  not  do 
without.  You  know  the  dungeon  is  the  oracle  of  God, 
and  speaks  most  precious  things  to  men.  The  best  things 
that  ever  came  into  this  world  came  when  Christ  was 
riven,  and  immortal  life  flowed  out ;  and  men  are  riven, 
and  immortal  truths  and  examples  flow  out. 


THERE  is  a  most  unutterable  gladness  and  sweetness 
in  singing  together.  We  are  so  much  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  body  yet,  that  in  prayers,  where  there  is  the 
silent  accompanying  by  thousands  of  the  utterances  of 
one  voice,  there  seems  less  indication  of  this  union  than 
in  singing.  I  never  see  my  congregation  singing,  that  I 
do  not  feel,  "  There  at  last  goes  the  breath  of  their  soul 
and  mine ;  and  that  hymn  is  the  chariot  that  is  taking  us 
together  up  before  the  throne  of  God." 


THE  process  of  being  born  again  is  like  that  which 
a  portrait  goes  through  under  the  hand  of  the  artist. 
When  a  man  is  converted,  he  is  but  the  outline  sketch  of 
a  character  which  he  is  to  fill  up.  He  first  lays  in  the 
dead  coloring.  Then  comes  the  work  of  laying  in  the 
colors  ;  and  he  goes  on,  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
month  after  month,  and  year  after  year,  blending  them, 
and  heightening  the  effect.  It  is  a  life's  work;  and 
when  he  dies  he  is  still  laying  in  and  blending  the  colors, 
and  heightening  the  effect.  And  if  men  suppose  the 
work  is  done  when  they  are  converted,  why  should  we 
expect  anything  but  lopsided  Christian  characters  ? 


ALL  men  that  have  had  a  noble  ancestry  feel  a  joyful 
sympathy  with  them.  We  like  to  trace  our  name,  even 
if  it  ends  in  some  honest  farmer.  We  like  to  know  our 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  179 

origin.  We  like  to  go  to  the  mountain  and  find  the  very 
hole  in  the  rock  from  which  the  spring  spirts,  whether 
we  are  the  river  or  the  morass  !  We  are  fond  of  tracing 

O 

our  ancestry,  if  it  have  glory,  and  if  it  have  none.  It 
gives  us  pleasure  to  trace  our  forefathers  to  colonial  days, 
and  to  the  Mayflower,  —  that  ark  of  the  covenant  for 
America.  Moses  earned  the  ark  through  the  sands; 
our  fathers  carried  it  through  the  waves. 

We  love  to  trace  our  ancestry  to  early  houses  and 
families  in  England.  We  love  to  trace  it  to  Huguenot  or 
Hebrew  blood.  Neither  is  this  vain  or  foolish.  It  may 
become  so  through  abuse,  but  it  is  not  so  of  necessity. 
It  is  right.  A  man  may  take  something  from  the  -loom 
of  the  past  to  cover  the  nakedness  of  the  present  with. 

But  mere  bodily  ancestry  is  the  lowest  form  of  a  great 
truth.  The  soul  gives  relationship.  All  who  have  lived, 
i\nd,  by  God's  help,  poured  their  life  as  a  soul-wine  forth 
for  the  refreshment  of  the  world,  are  my  ancestors,  my 
relations.  All  the  patriarchs  are  mine.  Not  to  the  Jew 
alone  are  Abraham  and  Isaac  aud  Jacob ;  but  to  every 
man  that  knows  how  to  feel  like  them,  and  revere  them. 
All  judges  of  Israel ;  all  prophets  and  holy  priests ;  all 
religious  kings  and  patriotic  men  ;  all  apostles,  ministers, 
and  confessors  ;  all  holy  men  of  the  cloister,  —  in  ages 
when  the  cloister  benefited  society ;  the  heroes  of  dun- 
geons and  scaffolds  ;  the  witnesses  for  liberty  in  every 
age,  and  everywhere,  —  these  men  seem  to  us  dim  and 
shadowy ;  but  we  love  to  go  back  and  make  them  more 
substantial.  We  love  to  search  those  long  forgotten,  and 
give  them  resurrection,  and  claim  them  as  our  own.  I 
go  back  to  them  with  fervent  joy.  Their  blood  is  mine. 
It  beats  in  me ;  for  the  blood  of  Christ  it  is  that  makes 
of  one  blood  all  good  men  on  earth.  I  am  blood-kindred 
to  all  that  have  been  blood-sprinkled  from  on  high. 


180  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

I  do  not  know  how  much  this  seems  to  you.  That  de- 
pends upon  circumstances.  If  you  are  aS  hard  as  a  ten- 
penny  nail,  and  have  no  more  heart  than  that,  probably 
it  is  not  much.  You  may  be  a  nail,  and  that  in  a  sure 
place  ;  but  to  any  one  that  has  any  considerable  imagina- 
tion, and  any  considerable  enthusiasm  of  affection,  I  think 
it  will  be  a  source  of  great  comfort  and  joy.  I,  for  one, 
would  not  for  anything  give  up  my  heritage  in  the  past. 
I  ask  no  roses,  I  ask  no  titles,  I  ask  no  estates,  except 
the  revenues  which  my  own  heart  can  bring  forth  of 
sympathy  and  inspiration  and  joy  from  the  past.  To 
every  man  that  ever  did  a  noble  deed,  to  every  man  that 
ever  thought  a  noble  thought,  to  every  man  that  ever 
achieved  a  noble  purpose,  to  every  man  that  ever  dared 
to  suffer  for  the  right,  to  every  man  that  ever  laid  down 
his  life  for  truth,  I  am  related.  I  am  related  to  all  that 
is  good  in  the  past. 

I  DO  not  distinguish  men  one  from  another  merely  by 
the  difference  of  their  thought-power.  Still  less  do  I 
distinguish  them  by  the  difference  of  their  executive 
power.  There  must  be  a  deeper  gauge  than  these.  Still 
less  do  I  distinguish  them  by  their  external  differences, 
as  where  one  is  high  and  another  is  low ;  where  one  is 
rich  and  another  is  poor ;  where  one  is  wise  and  another 
is  unwise.  The  point  where  true  manhood  resides  is  in 
the  neighborhood  of  love.  In  the  copiousness,  the  vari- 
ety, the  endlessness,  the  sweetness  and  the  purity  of  the 
element  of  love,  you  shall  find  the  measure  that  God 
applies,  discriminating  between  one  and  another. 


As  I  sat  and  looked  to-day  at  the  meadows  and  at  the 
trees,  I  thought  within  myself,  "  What  message  have  they 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  181 

for  me  of  ray  -God,  and  from  my  God  ?  "  And  all  day  long 
1  have  felt  that'never  was  there  such  an  interpretation  of 
munificence  ;  that  never  was  there  anything  that  so  indi- 
cated what  it  was  to  give  without  money  and  without 
price,  —  to  give  out  of  a  nature  whose  spontaneity  is 
generous,  profuse,  magnificent. 

As,  in  wandering  from  one  thing  to  another,  I  looked 
at  the  freshness  of  nature,  and  the  multitude  of  her  chil- 
dren,—  those  hidden  in  coverts,  those  under  dark,  cool 
rocks,  those  laid  in  where  mosses  are,  those  growing  in 
the  broad  fields,  those  springing  up  under  the  shadow  of 
forest  trees,  and  those  suspended  upon  their  boughs  iii 
the  air,  —  as  I  looked  at  all  these  things,  I  found  I  could 
scarcely  estimate  in  one  square  yard  where  I  sat,  how 
many  notes  God  had  rung,  how  many  thoughts  He  had 
bestowed,  how  much  care  He  had  lavished,  how  much 
power  He  had  exerted,  and  how  much  wisdom  He  had 
displayed.  And  there  came  to  my  mind  such  a  sense  of 
God's  overruling  providence  and  presence,  as  has  made 
the  whole  day  one  of  unexampled  sweetness  to  me. 
There  was  not  a  single  bird  that  I  had  time  to  hear,  or 
rather  that  I  was  awake  to  hear,  —  for  you  must  wake 
early  or  you  cannot  hear  the  birds  sing  in  chorus.  From 
four  to  five  o'clock  is  the  time  for  family  prayer,  and 
they  always  have  congregational  singing  then  !  If  you 
miss  that,  you  will  not  hear  anything  like  it  during  the 
whole  day,  although  during  the  whole  day  there  is  not 
an  hour  in  which  they  are  silent, — there  was  not  a  single 
bird  that  I  heard  that  did  not  direct  my  thoughts  to  God. 
And  all  through  the  day,  in  the  singing  of  the  birds,  in 
the  blossoming  of  the  trees,  on  the  broad  green  sward, 
along  the*  sides  of  the  walls,  skirting  the  edges  of  the  wood- 
lands, through  the  glades,  in  the  air,  on  the  earth,  every- 


182  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

where,  it  seemed  as  though  God  were  almost  so  near 
that  I  should  hear  Him,  and  see  Him,  as*  certainly  I  felt 
Him. 

And  what  a  joy  there  is  in  knowing  that  the  earth  is 
not  merely  something  that  God  thought  of  when  He 
made  it,  and,  as  it  were,  spun  out  of  His  hand,  saying, 
"  Go,  take  care  of  thyself" ;  but  that  it  is  God's  daily 
care,  that  it  is  His  estate,  that  He  works  it  as  I  work  my 
garden,  and  that  He  watches  all  things  in  it  with  that 
same  anxiety  and  interest  with  which  I  watch  one  plant 
after  another  that  I  mean  to  see  blossom,  and  mean  to 
help  to  blossom!  To  us,  nothing  makes  the  world  so 
precious,  nothing  makes  it  so  profitable,  nothing  makes 
it  so  little  barren  and  so  much  rich,  nothing  so  takes  away 
its  sordidness,  as  the  knowledge  of  God's  solicitude  con- 
cerning it,  and  His  care  over  it. 


WE  are  branched  on  every  side  with  faculties  exqui- 
sitely susceptible  of  influence.  The  whole  world  is  striv- 
ing, and  moving  about  us,  and  upon  us.  And  no  man 
can  prevent  dents  and  scratches,  unless  he  looks  before 
and  provides  beforehand.  If  a  man  allows  his  body  to 
come  into  collision  with  rock,  or  tree,  or  hedge,  or  wall, 
it  is  too  late  for  him  to  avoid  injury.  He  should  have 
kept  off.  We  protect  the  eye,  the  nerve-woven  skin;  we 
learn  to  be  vigilant  without  volition  for  the  body,  and 
even  when  absorbed  in  thought  there  is  yet  a  subtle 
piloting  of  the  body  by  the  mind,  I  know  not  how ;  we 
see  the  stone  without  seeming  to  see  it ;  we  avoid  the 
ditch  without  knowing  that  we  noticed  it;  we  lift  the 
foot  with  a  regulated  gradation  to  meet  the  varying  sur- 
face of  the  road,  quite  unconsciously;  we  instinctively 
discern  the  qualities  of  things,  and  accommodate  our- 
selves to  them. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  183 

But  the  soul  is  more  sensitive  than  the  body.  It  has 
a  greater  surface,  it  has  more  branches,  it  has  more  arms 
and  (bet,  it  has  more  nerves,  it  has  more  injurable  attri- 
butes, than  the  body.  It  carries  them,  too,  amidst  flying 
missiles  countless,  endless  in  succession.  When  the  fire 
touches  gauze,  it  is  too  late  then  to  interfere  ;  you  must 
not  let  it  touch  it.  When  the  rap  is  given  to  the  crystal 
vase,  it  is  too  late  then  to  save  it ;  you  must  keep  it  free 
from  the  blow.  When  the  frost  has  struck  the  flower, 
watching  is  then  remediless ;  you  must  keep  it  where 
the  frost  cannot  reach  it.  We  must  keep  sensitive  things 
free  from  rude  contacts.  That  is  true  wisdom  in  prac- 
tical life.  And  so  of  hundreds  of  moral  things.  We  must 
keep  them  away  from  evil,  so  that  it  shall  not  overtake 
them.  A  man  must  carry  himself,  not  so  as  to  repent  of 
harm,  but  so  as,  by  constant  vigilance  and  forethought, 
to  prevent  harm  from  befalling  him. 


PHILOSOPHERS  go  to  the  glaciers, — those  frozen  rivers 
that  move  with  a  slow  and  steady  pace  down  the  moun- 
tain-side, —  and  set  stakes  on  the  firm  rocks,  and  meas- 
ure how  far  the  whole  body  moves  within  a  given  length 
of  time.  By  means  of  these  unmoving  stakes  they  can 
detect  its  almost  imperceptible  but  continuous  motion, 
through  day  and  night,  and  summer  and  winter,  which 
the  heedless  never  observe,  nor  believe  in. 

Now,  if  you  take  your  stand  on  the  firm  rock  of  God's 
truth,  and  watch  men,  I  think  you  will  see  that  they 
move  with  a  slow  and  steady  motion.  I  take  sight  at  a 
good  many  men.  I  see  where  they  start  from,  at  what 
pace  they  are  moving,  and  in  what  direction  they  tend. 
Their  motion  is  slow  and  steady,  like  that  of  the  everlast- 
ing glacier ;  and  every  moment  they  are  moving  down- 


184  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ward!  They  are  not  law-breakers;  they  are  not  bad 
citizens,  —  it  does  not  take  much  to  be  a  good  citizen ; 
they  are  not  men  addicted  to  lust  or  drinking.  But  if  to 
transform  one's  whole  being  into  the  love  of  money ;  if 
to  set  before  one's  self,  not  God,  not  immortality,  not  jus- 
tice, not  purity,  not  faith,  not  any  of  the  ethereal  virtues 
of  the  eternal  realm,  but  the  acquisition  of  property  ;  if 
to  seek,  above  all'  things,  to  become  money-strong,  to 
build  pyramids  for  men  to  see,  whose  broad  base  shall 
cover  acres,  and  every  stone  of  which  shall  be  solid  gold  ; 
if  to  think  golden  thoughts,  and  measure  forces  by  a 
golden  measurement,  and  estimate  men  thereby,  and 
value  customs,  laws,  institutions,  sanctuaries,  books,  every- 
thing, by  the  amount  they  will  bring  in  the  market,  —  if 
that  is  to  move  downward,  then  there  are  men  who  are 
going  down  the  sides  of  Mount  Sinai  as  surely  as  the 
glaciers  move  down  the  sides  of  the  Alps  !  And  I  tell 
you  it  is  time,  not  that  men  should  watch  for  each  other, 
but  that  every  man  should  wake  up  and  watch  for  him- 
self. 


A  LAW,  to  be  of  any  use  to  you,  must  be  higher  than 
your  practice  under  it.  There  is  no  use  in  your  attempt- 
ing to  learn  to  write,  when  already  you  can  write  as 
well  as  the  copy.  There  is  no  use  in  your  going  to 
school  when  you  know  as  much  as  your  master.  There 
is  no  use  of  your  sitting  before  a  drawing-board  to  learn 
to  draw,  when  you  can  draw  better  than  him  that  teaches 
you.  And  no  rule,  no  principle,  is  of  any  great  use  to  a 
man  unless  it  is  in  advance  of  his  attainments.  From 
the  lowest  forms  of  physical  industry  up  to  the  highest 
spiritual  virtues,  the  indispensable  requisite  for  growth  is 
the  conception  of  something  better  than  has  been,  or  than 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  185 

is,  in  us.     All  industries  are  prosperous  as  they  are  striv- 
ing toward  something  better. 


AN  orchestra  that  should  play  through  the  whole  of 
Beethoven's  Eighth  Symphony  and  only  chord  five  or  six 
times  from  beginning  to  end,  would  hardly  be  considered 
first-class  performers.  An  occasional  discord  can  be  tol- 
erated, but  such  an  absence  of  concord  that  perfect  har- 
mony is  touched  but  five  or  six  times  in  the  playing  of 
the  whole  piece,  is  intolerable. 

Now,  our  life  touches  concord  only  once  in  a  while, 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  time  it  plays  in  discord ;  and  when 
a  man  who  is  striving  to  live  according  to  God's  law  be- 
gins to  find  this  out,  he  says  to  himself,  "  I  am  perpet- 
ually coming  short  of  my  standard ;  I  not  only  do  not 
love  right,  but  I  hate  it  often  ;  I  not  only  do  not  obey, 
but  I  positively  disobey:  I  not  only  do  not  seek  the 
strait  path,  but  I  rejoice  to  walk  in  the  broad  road ;  I 
not  only  do  not  control  my  temper  as  I  should,  but  I 
allow  it  to  scourge  and  torment  others ;  and  how  can  I 
call  myself  a  Christian  ?  "  He  strives  for  a  month,  for  six 
months,  for  a  year,  to  live  aright,  and  finds. that  in  spite 
of  all  his  strivings  his  life  is  still  imperfect,  —  wofully 
imperfect. 

And  then  what  happens  ?  Oftentimes  under  such  cir- 
cumstances a  man  says,  "  The  standard  is  too  high.  One 
never  can  reach  it,  and  therefore  it  is  too  high.  It  ought 
not  to  have  been  put  so  high."  Now,  the  worst  thing  a 
human  being  can  do  is  to  bring  down  his  standard.  That 
does  not  bring  up  conduct.  The  conduct  will  be  about 
so  far  below  the  standard,  whether  it  is  high  or  low. 
Many  a  Christian  insensibly  falls  into  a  self-indulgent 
state,  and  has  in  himself  this  unexpressed  feeling:  "It 


186  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

does  very  well  to  hold  up  these  exaggerated  ideals  in 
preaching,  but  it  is  impossible  for  men  to  live  as  minis- 
ters tell  us  we  ought  to  live  ;  and  it  is  of  no  use  for  us  to 
make  ourselves  think  that  Christianity  demands  that  we 
should."  And  so  he  gets  ease  by  lowering  the  standard, 
instead  of  attempting  to  carry  conduct  up  to  the  stand- 
ard. 

Do  I,  when  I  open  my  house  as  a  refuge  for  orphans, 
require  that  they  should  be  perfectly  clean  before  I  take 
them  in  ?  No ;  the  dirtiest  ones  I  take  first.  Do  I  re- 
quire that  they  should  be  well  clothed  ?  No ;  their  very 
rags  are  their  invitation.  Do  I  take  them  in  because 
they  are  ready  to  graduate  ?  No  ;  they  cannot  read  a 
letter.  Their  only  education  is  profanity.  The  reason 
I  take  them  in  is  because  I  am  benevolent,  and  they  are 
needy.  And  the  reason  that  Christ  accepts  us  is  because 
He  loves  us,  and  we  are  in  need  of  His  loving-kindness. 
It  is  only  those  who  hug  their  sins,  and  refuse  to  give 
them  up,  that  He  rejects. 


•  GOD'S  greatness  and  supremacy  have  been  taught  so 
as  in  effect  to  produce  the  impression  of  solitary  and  un- 
sympathizing  sovereignty.  I  hold  and  teach  that  God  is 
supreme ;  that  in  thought  and  will  and  government  He  is 
sovereign ;  and  that,  from  the  very  necessity  of  His  being, 
He  takes  counsel  of  none,  asks  permission  of  none,  and 
is  obh'ged  to  carry  Himself  above  all  government  and  all 
suggestion.  I  hold  that  this  is  a  glorious  doctrine  which 
flames  abroad  not  less  in  nature  than  in  revelation  ;  and 
the  Divine  superiority,  supremacy,  and  sovereignty  can- 
not be  taught  too  much  for  my  rejoicing.  It  may  be 
taught  in  the  wrong  way ;  for  if  it  be  taught  that  God 
is  sovereign  in  the  sense  that  He  is  lifted  so  far  above 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  187 

men  that  He  is  out  of  sympathy  with  them,  and  that 
they  of  necessity  are  out  of  sympathy  with  Him,  then  we 
have  lost  our  God.  It  is  not  necessary  to  make  orphan- 
age among  men  in  order  to  make  God  sovereign.  It  is 
not  necessary,  in  order  to  make  God  radiant  and  glorious, 
to  make  Him  like  Mont  Blanc,  which  is  beautiful,  to  be 
sure,  with  its  snow-white  covering,  but  which  is  cold  and 
forbidding,  nevertheless.  Men  seem  to  have  lifted  God 
up  into  such  solitariness  of  supremacy  as  to  make  Him 
unsympathetic,  careless  of  men,  and  regardful  of  nothing 
but  Himself.  Men  have  seemed  to  think  that  there  was 
an  entity  called  government,  by  which  God  so  separated 
Himself  from  men  that  their  thoughts  could  not  find  Him 
with  any  joy,  hope,  or  pleasure. 


THE  great  incarnation  mystery,  the  peculiar  mission 
of  Christ,  is  this  :  that  He  brought  God  down  to  us,  that 
He  revealed  God  to  us  in  His  example,  while  walking 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  —  while  going  about  the  high- 
ways of  Palestine,  —  while  sitting  on  the  mountain  side, 

—  while  in  the  vessel,  —  while  raising  the  widow's  son 
to  life,  —  while  distributing  all  things,  reserving  nothing 
for  Himself,  so  that  He  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head, 

—  while  using  His  whole  being  for  others,  and  not  for 
Himself.     The  example  of  Christ  was,  as  it  were  a  sec- 
tion of  God's  eternal  life  let  down  into  this  world,  that 
men  might  see  One  whose  nature  it  is  to  administer  for- 
ever and  forever  on  the  principle  of  making  His  own 
being  subservient  to  the  welfare  of  those  over  whom  He 
presides.    And  when  He  was  caught  up  again  into  heaven 
the  same  blessed  work  went  on,  only  in  a  higher  sphere; 

Christ  is  spoken  of  as  "  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world."  That  which  men  saw  of  God 


188  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

during  the  brief  space  of  thirty-three  years  was  only  a 
specimen  of  His  life  before  and  after.  And  that  being 
God,  to  give  Himself  perpetually  for  the  good  of  His 
creatures ;  that  being  God,  to  eternally  love  and  succor 
the  intelligences  that  He  has  made ;  that  being  God,  to 
bestow  the  vast  stores  of  His  nature  in  endless  benefac- 
tion ;  that  being  God,  blessed  be  His  name  that  He  does 
live  for  His  own  glory,  that  He  never  does  stoop  from 
the  lofty  altitude  to  which  He  is  lifted,  and  that  He 
never  does  swerve  from  the  purposes  of  His  adminis- 
tration. 


ONE  man  has  kindness  deep  within  him ;  and  when 
the  occasion  comes,  the  rind  or  shell  is  cracked,  and  the 
kernel  is  found.  Such  a  man's  heart,  too  long  clouded, 
like  a  sun  in  a  storm-muffled  day,  shoots  through  some 
opening  rift,  and  glows  for  a  period  in  glory.  But  there 
are  other  natures  that  are  always  cloudless.  With  them, 
a  cloud  is  the  exception,  shining  is  the  rule.  They  rise 
radiant  over  the  horizon  ;  they  fill  the  whole  heavens 
with  growing  brightness,  and  all  day  long  they  overhang 
life,  pouring  down  an  undiminished  flood  of  brightness 
and  warmth. 


WHETHER  other  men  have  received  more  or  less  than 
you  have,  is  not  the  question  at  all.  Have  you  not  re- 
ceived all  you  have  earned  ?  Has  there  been  any  oppor- 
tunity withheld  from  you  ?  You  desire  ease  ;  but  where 
is  the  evidence  that  you  have  earned  it  ?  You  desire 
pleasure ;  but  where  is  the  evidence  that  you  have  earned 
it  ?  You  desire  comfort ;  but  where  is  the  evidence  that 
you  have  earned  it  ?  Does  society  owe  you  these  things 
before  you  have  earned  them  ?  No  more  than  the  wil- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  189 

derness  owes  me  harvests  which  I  have  not  sown,  or 
fruits  which  I  have  not  planted.  Society  owes  you  what 
you  have  gained,  achieved,  —  nothing  more. 

If  you  say  there  are  men  that  have  not  worked  half 
so  hard  as  you  have,  who  have  got  ease,  or  wealth,  or 
honor,  there  may  be  a  question  to  be  raised  as  to  why 
they  have  got  it,  but  there  is  no  question  to  be  raised  as 
to  why  you  have  not  got  it.  You  do  not  deserve  it. 
And  if  you  say,  "  Neither  do  they,"  it  may  be  so,  and  it 
may  not ;  but  that  does  not  touch  the  question  at  all. 
"  Is  thine  eye  evil  because  I  am  good  ?  "  Has  God  de- 
frauded you  because  He  has  dealt  bountifully  with  other 
men  ?  If  I  give  one  beggar  a  penny,  and  pass  by  the 
next  one  without  giving  him  anything,  do  I  cheat  the  one 
to  whom  I  give  nothing  ?  Have  I  not  a  right,  on  the 
ground  of  generosity,  to  give  to  one  when  I  do  not  give 
to  the  other?  Is  it  not  optional  with  me  to  do  what  I 
will  with  my  own?  Is  it  not  my  privilege,  where  I 
violate  no  pledge,  and  where  I  am  left  simply  to  the  dic- 
tates of  my  feelings  and  judgment,  to  give  to  one,  and 
refuse  to  give  to  another  ?  And  are  a  man's  own  feel- 
ings to  measure  my  conduct  in  this  matter  ? 


"  I  COULD  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from  Christ 
for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh." 

I  wish  you  could  see  what  stupendous  ingenuity  of 
folly  has  been  employed  in  finding  out  what  that  signi- 
fies ;  how  men  have  put  on  spectacles,  and  double  spec- 
tacles, and  quadruple  spectacles,  to  pry  into  its  meaning, 
saying,  "  Did  he  really  think  he  would  be  willing  to  lose 
his  soul  for  the  sake  of  his  brethren  ?  "  thus  screwing  the 
words  up  to  exact  measurement.  It  is  as  though  an  old 
hard-hearted  bachelor  should  hear  a  mother,  in  anguish 


190  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

of  soul,  exclaim,  "  I  would  give  my  life  a  thousand  times 
over  to  save  my  child  ?  "  and  he  should  stand  and  say, 
"  A  thousand  times  ?  Two  hundred  and  fifty  would  be 
a  great  many.  A  thousand  times?"  Why,  feeling  is 
always,  in  its  nature,  full  of  overplusage.  It  defies  and 
scorns  measurement.  Such  extravagant  expressions  mean 
simply  much.  When  a  man's  heart  is  full,  and  he  wants 
to  rise  to  a  royal  conception,  he  disdains  measured  lan- 
guage. The  apostle  says,  "  I  could  wish  myself  accursed 
from  Christ,"  and  nothing  else  could  indicate  how  strong 
his  feeling  was.  He  did  not  stop  to  think  what  the  literal 
interpretation  of  these  words  would  be. 


"  To  the  intent  that  now  unto  principalities  and  pow- 
ers in  heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  the  Church  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God." 

When  God  sets  forth  His  manifold  wisdom,  what  are 
to  be  the  leaves  of  the  book  that  shall  be  revealed? 
Palpitating  hearts  are  to  be  the  leaves  of  that  great  book. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  its  last  day,  men 
shall  go  up  in  order,  and  every  human  soul  that  has  lived 
and  yearned  for  help,  and  received  help,  shall  recite  its 
experience ;  and  it  shall  be  an  experience  manifesting  the 
wisdom  of  God  in  this  world.  And  every  Christian  will 
be  a  new  page,  a  new  history  ;  but  not  one  written  with 
ink  nor  cut  in  stone,  but  one  that  has  been  experienced 
in  the  living  soul.  When  God  shall  make  manifest  what 
has  been  His  wondrous  wisdom,  martyrs,  and  confessors, 
and  holy  prophets,  and  apostles,  and  humble  Christians 
will  rise  up  in  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  yea,  in 
multitudes  without  number,  chanting  and  speaking  that 
wisdom. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  191 

IF  you  bring  me  a  basketful  of  minerals  from  Califor- 
nia, and  I  take  them  and  look  at  them,  I  shall  know  that 
this  specimen  has  gold  in  it,  because  I  see  there  little 
points  of  yellow  gold ;  but  I  shall  not  know  what  the 
white  and  the  dark  points  are  that  I  see.  But  let  a 
metallurgist  look  at  it,  and  he  will  see  that  it  contains  not 
only  gold,  but  silver,  and  lead,  and  iron,  and  he  will 
single  them  out.  To  me  it  is  mere  stone,  with  only  here 
and  there  a  hint  of  gold ;  but  to  him  it  is  a  combination 
of  various  metals. 

Now,  take  the  Word  of  God,  that  is  filled  with  pre- 
cious stones  and  metals,  and  let  one  instructed  in  spiritual 
insight  go  through  it,  and  he  will  discover  all  these  treas- 
ures ;  while  if  you  let  a  man  uninstructed  in  spiritual 
insight  go  through  it,  he  will  discover  those  things  that 
are  outside  and  apparent,  but  those  things  that  make 
God  and  man  friends,  and  that  have  to  do  with  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  in  heaven,  will  escape  his  notice. 
No  man  can  know  these  things  unless  the  Spirit  of  God 
has  taught  him  to  discern  them. 


THE  mother  suffers  most  for  the  child  and  is  nearest 
like  the  Saviour  to  him,  —  for  we  are  nearest  those, 
and  most  glorious  in  the  esteem  of  those,  for  whom  we 
suffer  most.  Do  not  you  know  how  things  will  loom  up 
and  magnify  when  you  see  them  through  a  haze  ?  So 
when  you  see  persons  through  tear-drops  which  they 
have  shed  for  you,  and  the  things  that  they  have  suffered 
for  you,  they  are  magnified,  and  seem  more  saintlike  to 
you. 

RESPECTING  the  whole  tendency  of  men  here,  this  ia 
true :  that  the  less  you  develop  them,  the  more  content 


192  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

they  are  in  regard  to  immortality.  The  nearer  a  man  is 
to  a  stone  the  less  discontented  does  he  feel.  We  talk  of 
punishing  men  by  withholding  joys  from  them.  Men  say 
that  misers  are  punished  because  they  have  not  the  joys 
which  spiritually-minded  men  have.  You  might  as  well 
say  that  a  toad  is  punished  because  he  does  not  know 
what  the  philosopher  knows.  If  a  man  has  not  got  a 
thing,  and  does  not  know  that  such  a  thing  exists,  and 
does  not  want  it,  is  he  punished  by  not  having  it?  Do  you 
suppose  a  leaf  is  punished  in  the  measure  of  the  things 
that  it  does  not  have  ?  Do  you  suppose  a  man  is  pun- 
ished in  the  measure  of  the  things  that  he  has. not  got? 
Do  you  suppose  a  coward  knows  what  he  lacks  in  cour- 
age ?  Do  you  suppose  a  mean  man  knows  what  he  lacks 
in  magnanimity  ?  The  lower  you  go  down  in  the  scale 
of  human  being,  the  less  discontent  you  will  find.  And 
the  moment  you  begin  to  bring  a  man  up,  his  every  step 
is  taken  with  aspiration,  susceptibility,  yearning,  and 
longing,  all  of  which  point  in  one  direction,  and  lead 
him  to  feel  in  his  whole  inward  experience,  "  I  am  not 
of  this  world.  There  ought  to  be  another  place  for  me 
to  live  in." 


WE  carry  something  of  God  in  us.  It  does  not  exist 
in  such  a  form  that  we  can  define  it.  If  the  logician 
says  to  me  with  reference  to  it,  "  State  your  position : 
prove  what  you  say " ;  if,  like  an  apothecary,  he  wants 
that  I  should  weigh  it  in  scales,  and  give  him  the  result 
in  drachms  and  scruples,  I  cannot  meet  him.  Neverthe- 
less, I  think  there  are  thousands  of  witnesses  who  will 
say,  "  I  have  an  undying  certainty  in  my  bosom  that  I 
am  allied  to  God  in  such  a  way  that  I  shall  not  be  extin- 
guished when  this  life  is  ended  ;  that  I  shall  not  die  when 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  '193 

I  die."  I  think  there  is  a  forelooking  into  the  life  to  come. 
It  seems  to  me  that  there  are  in  the  lives  of  many  — 
certainly  there  are  in  the  lives  of  the  more  favored  — 
hours  in  which  they  seem  to  themselves  to  stand  with  only 
the  filmiest  separations  between  them  and  the  spirit-land. 
Some  think  that  they  can  pierce  it  and  discern  it.  I 
hope  they  can.  We  cannot  say  much  for  each  other. 
But  I  think  all  of  us  have  known  hours  when  we  have 
said,  "  A  little  more,  the  least  bit  more,  and  I  shall  see 
and  know."  I  think  there  have  been  times  when  it 
seemed  as  though  voices  spoke  to  you  out  of  the  great 
concave;  when  it  seemed  as  though  you  almost  felt  the 
touch  of  a  shadowy  presence  ;  when  it  seemed  as  though 
your  soul  was  caught  up,  so  that  you  did  not  know  whether 
you  were  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  as  the  apostle 
declared  that  he  did  not 


SOME  think  that  a  Christian  life  is  like  a  canal,  with 
proper  locks  to  lift  men  up  and  drop  them  down  as  occa- 
sion requires.  There  may  be  a  sluggish,  lazy,  puddle-life 
of  that  kind ;  but  there  is  no  such  Christian  life.  No 
man  can  live  a  Christian  life  that  does  not  avail  himself 
of  all  the  power  given  him  on  every  side.  There  is  work 
for  the  thought,  work  for  the  imagination,  work  for  every 
moral  sentiment,  work  for  every  affection,  work  for  all 
the  combinations  of  the  faculties,  in  their  different  moods, 
and  through  all  the  varying  periods  of  life,  —  youth, 
middle  age,  and  old  age ;  and  if  a  man  would  be  a  Chris- 
tian, a  child  of  the  all-working,  unslumbering  God,  he 
must  be  awake  and  vigilant. 


MALARIAS,  you   know,  are   dangerous  because   they 
do  not  address  themselves  to  any  sense.     We  can  put  up 
9  •  M 


194  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

lightning-rods  to  ward  off  thunderbolts  ;  but  no  man  can 
put  up  rods  that  will  protect  him  from  a  poisonous  at- 
mosphere. You  can  drain  morasses  that  you  can  see ; 
but  you  cannot  free  the  atmosphere  above  them  from  im- 
purities that  you  cannot  see.  The  sweetest  and  most 
beauteous  days  in  New  Orleans  are  those  on  which  death 
strikes  most  terribly  there,  in  times  of  pestilence.  It  is 
on  such  days  that  it  is  the  most  insidious.  It  has  no 
visible  or  perceptible  exponent.  It  cannot  be  detected 
by  sight  or  by  touch.  And  that  is  what  makes  it  so 
dreadful. 

Now,  we  are  walking  in  a  malarial  atmosphere  all  the 
time :  not  one  that  attacks  the  body ;  not  one  that  pene- 
trates the  heart ;  not  one  that  congests  the  liver;  not  one 
that  crazes  the  brain ;  but  one  that  infects  the  soul.  The 
soul  is  poisoned  all  the  time  by  pride,  vanity,  the  love  of 
money,  greed,  competitions,  rivalries,  and  the  various 
other  noxious  elements  by  which  it  is  surrounded.  Hu- 
man life  is  one  vast  Campagna,  and  there  are,  in  the 
atmosphere  round  about  men,  silent,  corrupting  forces  of 
which  they  are  quite  unconscious.  And  nothing  but  this 
inward  spiritual  vigilance  will  make  a  man  a  match  for 
these  things. 


IT  is  not  the  quality  of  the  thing,  but  the  quantity. 
Too  much  watching  becomes  disease, —  not  watching,  but 
too  much  of  it.  Too  much  bread  is  as  bad  as  arsenic, 
only  in  another  way.  Too  much  fruit,  too  much  water, 
too  much  light,  too  much  of  anything,  is  too  much,  and  is 
oppressing,  and  not  nourishing  or  serving.  The  simple 
overacting  of  good  makes  it  mischievous.  In  respect  to 
the  body,  although  the  signals  of  trouble  are  hung  out, 
and  the  uncomfortableness  of  sensation  reveals  the  im- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  195 

prudence  of  our  indolence,  yet  it  is  sufficiently  difficult 
for  men  to  keep  within  the  lines  of  moderation,  in  the 
body.  How  much  more  need  of  watchfulness,  when  the 
gradually-growing  excess  is  in  a  thought-faculty,  or  in 
the  disproportionate  use  of  a  feeling  ;  when  the  excess  is 
not  in  the  nature  of  the  thing  felt,  but  in  the  continuity 
or  degree  of  it !  We  never  sin  by  evil  faculties,  but 
always  by  good  ones  misemployed.  There  have  been 
men  that  have  used  good  faculties  evilly,  and  that  con- 
tinually ;  but  God  never  made  a  bad  thing  in  a  man. 
He  made  him  well ;  and  every  blade  was  to  be  good, 
every  instrument  good,  every  quality  good  ;  and  the  evil 
that  proceeds  from  him  comes  from  the  wrong  use  of 
things  that  are  good. 

A  DULL  axe  never  loves  grindstones,  but  a  keen  work- 
man does ;  and  he  puts  his  tool  on  them  in  order  that  it 
may  be  sharp.  And  men  do  not  like  grinding ;  but  they 
are  dull  for  the  purposes  which  God  designs  to  work  out 
with  them,  and  therefore  He  is  grinding  them. 


I  NEVER  saw  a  man  that  did  not  believe  in  the  im- 
mortality of  love  when  following  the  body  of  a  loved  one 
to  the  grave.  I  have  seen  men  under  other  circum- 
stances that  did  not  believe  in  it ;  but  I  never  saw  a 
man  that,  when  he  stood  looking  upon  the  form  of  one 
that  he  really  loved  stretched  out  for  burial,  did  not  re- 
volt from  saying,  "  It  has  all  come  to  that :  the  hours  of 
sweet  companionship  ;  the  wondrous  interfacings  of  trop- 
ical souls ;  the  joys ;  the  hopes ;  the  trusts  ;  the  unutter- 
able yearnings,  —  there  they  all  lie."  No  man  can  stand 
and  look  in  a  coffin  upon  the  body  of  a  fellow-creature, 
and  remember  the  flaming  intelligence,  the  blossoming 


196  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

love,  the  whole  range  of  Divine  faculties,  which  so  lately 
animated  that  cold  clay,  and  say,  "  These  have  all  col- 
lapsed and  gone."  No  person  can  witness  the  last  sad 
ceremonials  which  are  performed  over  the  remains  of  a 
human  being,  —  the  sealing  down  of  the  unopenable  lid ; 
the  following  of  the  rumbling  procession  to  the  place  of 
burial ;  the  letting  down  of  the  dust  into  dust ;  the  fall- 
ing of  the  earth  upon  the  hollow  coffin,  with  those  sounds 
that  are  worse  than  thunder;  and  the  placing  of  the  green 
sod  over  the  grave,  —  no  person,  unless  he  be  a  beast, 
can  witness  these  things,  and  then  turn  away  and  say, 
"  I  have  buried  my  wife ;  I  have  buried  my  child ;  I 
have  buried  my  sister,  my  brother,  my  love." 

God  forbid  that  we  should  bury  anything.  There  is 
no  earth  that  can  touch  my  companion.  There  is  no 
earth  that  can  touch  my  child.  I  would  fight  my  little 
breath  and  strength  away  before  I  would  permit  any 
clod  to  touch  them.  The  jewel  is  not  in  the  ground. 
The  jewel  has  dropped  out  of  the  casket,  and  I  have 
buried  the  casket,  —  not  the  jewel.  And  you  may  rea 
son,  you  may  say  what  you  please,  you  may  carry  the  case 
before  the  supreme  court  of  my  understanding,  but  there 
is  something  higher  than  reason,  and  something  back  of 
the  understanding.  All  that  is  in  me  revolts  at  the  de- 
cision, and  spurns  it,  and  says,  "  You  must  try  heart 
cases  before  the  heart.  We  will  not  believe  but  that 
there  is  life  somewhere  else;  we  will  not  believe  that 
life  is  buried  here  ;  and  the  soul  goes  out  and  cries,  like 
a  child  lost  in  the  woods,  to  find  itself  in  this  strange 
world,  saying,  "  "Where  am  I  ?  and  who  shall  guide  me, 
that  long  and  yearn  and  reach  upward  ?  " 


IT  is  not  so  much  the  stalactites  as  the  stalagmites  that 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  197 

I  am  looking  after.  Those  crystalline  columns  that  hang 
down  from  the  roof  of  the  cave  are  stalactites ;  but  there 
rise  up  also  from  the  floor  equally  crystalline  columns, 
which  are  stalagmites.  Now,  in  my  thoughts  spring  up 
the  longing  of  my  soul  for  honor,  the  longing  of  my  soul 
for  perfect  love,  the  longing  of  my  soul  for  a  sense  of  rec- 
titude and  purity,  the  longing  of  my  soul  for  the  society 
of  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect ;  and  I  know  that 
these  longings  spire  upward ;  and  in  clear  days,  excep- 
tional days,  I  think  that  I  can  see  the  light  of  heaven 
glisten,  and  that  my  thoughts  go  to  the  gate,  and  almost 
within  the  sacred  precinct.  I  know  not  that  their  thoughts 
are  able  to  reach  down  to  me.  I  hope  they  are;  and 
when  there  is  evidence  that  they  are,  I  shall  be  glad  to 
receive  it. 

I  SUPPOSE  that  there  are  hundreds  of  men  that  are 
exceedingly  sceptical  in  regard  to  the  Bible  who  have  a 
certain  hidden  reverence  for  it.  "Why  ?  God  sent  them 
an  angel,  and  let  her  walk  with  them  two  years,  and  then 
took  her  home ;  and  they  hold  her  memory  with  such 
sacredness,  that  they  say,  "  If  there  ever  was  a  Chris- 
tian, my  wife  was  one ;  and  she  believed  in  that  book, 
and  there  must  be  something  in  it  which  makes  it  supe- 
rior to  other  books." 


GIVE  me  a  hundred  men,  —  not  men  that  are  glowing 
while  they  sing,  and  heavenly  while  they  pray,  though  I 
would  have  them  so,  but  men  that  are,  morning  and  noon 
and  night,  born  of  God,  and  that  so  carry  the  savor  of 
Christ  that  men  coming  into  their  presence  say,  "  There 
is  a  Christian  here,"  as  men  passing  a  vintage  say,  "  There 
are  grapes  here,"  —  give  me  a  hundred  such  men,  and  I 


198  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

will  make  the  world  believe.  I  do  not  ask  to  be  shown 
the  grape-vine  in  the  woods  in  June  before  .1  will  believe 
it  is  there.  I  know  that  there  are  grapes  near  when  the 
air  is  full  of  their  odor  ;  and  the  question  under  such  cir- 
cumstances always  is,  "  Where  is  the  vine  ?  "  and  never, 
"What  is  it  that  I  smell?"  You  are  to  be  a  savor 
of  love,  and  peace,  and  gentleness,  and  gratitude,  and 
thanksgiving,  so  that  wherever  you  go,  the  essence  of 
the  truth  that  is  in  you  shall  go  out  to  men. 


NATURES  that  are  constitutionally  overprone  to  vigi- 
lance are  apt  conscientiously  to  redouble  that  which  they 
do  not  need  in  such  measure.  They  are  of  the  opinion 
that  fear  is  almost  a  positive  Christian  grace.  They  not 
only  set  a  needless  number  of  sentinels  about  the  dwelh'ng 
of  their  soul,  but  they  seem  to  frequent  the  company  of 
sentinels  without,  more  than  that  of  guests  that  are,  or 
should  be,  served  within.  Many  a  man  has  little  time  for 
Christ  inside,  because  he  is  so  busy  watching  the  devil  out- 
side. Theirs  is  a  religion  which  is  more  in  fear  of  evil 
than  in  enjoyment  of  good.  There  are  a  great  many  men 
that  have  never  yet  known  the  profound  philosophy  of 
the  command,  "  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil 
with  good"  The  way  to  overcome  evil  is,  sometimes,  to 
be  sure  to  watch  it ;  but  a  man  that  does  nothing  but 
watch  evil,  never  will  overcome  it. 


WHAT  !  does  a  man  sin  when  he  is  a  Christian  ?  Cer- 
tainly he  does.  If  nobody  ever  came  to  the  communion 
of  the  Lord's  supper  except  those  who  are  void  of  sin,  we 
should  have  a  great  wilderness  in  the  church.  Do  not 
you  sin  ?  Is  there  a  day  in  which  you  are  not  selfish  ? 
What  is  selfishness  ?  It  is  acting  with  any  one  of  your 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  199 

faculties  so  as  to  promote  your  own  good  at  the  sacrifice 
of  the  good  of  another.  And  do  you  not  act  so  with 
your  pride  and  vanity  every  day,  —  ten  thousand  times  a 
day  ?  Do  you  not  act  so  with  your  very  conscience  and 
benevolence  ?  Do  you  not  with  your  love  make  an  idol 
of  one  side,  and  cheat  the  other  side  ?  Does  any  man 
live  an  hour  without  sinning  in  some  of  his  faculties  ?  I 
do  not  suppose  a  Christian  would  be  a  burglar,  or  sin  in 
the  sense  of  violating  a  civil  law,  but  in  the  sense  of  vio- 
lating the  law  of  God  there  is  not  a  man  who  lives  a  single 
hour  without 'sinning. 


GIVE  me  the  men,  and  I  will  write  a  commentary  on. 
the  Bible  that  will  not  need  any  explanation,  —  for  most 
commentaries  are  more  troublesome  than  the  Bible  which 
they  are  designed  to  explain.  I  will  put  them,  not  in  the 
sanctuary  on  the  Sabbath,  but  at  home,  in  the  street,  in 
their  neighborhood,  in  all  the  intricacies  of  business, 
everywhere ;  and  no  matter  where  they  may  be,  they 
shall  be  a  savor  of  Christ,  sweet  as  the  odor  of  blossoms. 
They  shall  be  garden-men  that  have  some  flowers  for 
every  month,  and  that  are  always  fragrant  and  redolent 
of  blossom  and  fruit.  Give  me  a  hundred  such  men, 
and  I  will  defy  the  infidel  world.  I  will  take  them  and 
bind  them  into  a  living  volume,  and  with  them  I  will 
make  the  world  believe. 


FA  ITU  in  Christ  has  no  tendency  to  make  a  man  care- 
less as  to  his  conduct,  or  less  eager  to  obey  the  law  of 
God.  Do  you  think  that  a  boy  taken  out  of  the  house 
of  correction  would  be  more  in  danger  of  picking  the 
pocket  of  his  benefactor  than  if  he  had  not  shown  him  a 
kindness  ?  Would  not  the  kindness  be  the  surest  guar- 
antee against  such  an  occurrence  ? 


200  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

There  was  a  man  in  Boston  (I  know  not  whether  he 
lives  yet,  —  yes,  he  lives,  but  I  know  not  whether  he 
lives  in  this  world)  who,  though  not  rich,  was  accustomed 
to  go  into  the  courts  of  justice  every  morning  to  give  bail 
for  culprits  that  had  no  friends  ;  and  it  was  his  testimony 
that  of  all  those  for  whom  he  gave  bail,  not  one  betrayed 
him,  —  not  one  left  him  in  the  lurch.  And  do  you  sup- 
pose that  those  creatures  whom  Christ  has  helped,  and 
whom  he  has  given  a  hope  of  eternal  salvation,  would 
turn  against  Him,  their  best  friend,  and  the  one  to  whom 
they  are  indebted  for  their  choicest  blessings  ?  Would 
that  be  human  nature?  Is  there  anything  on  God's 
earth  like  gratitude  to  inspire  a  soul  to  act  in  the  right 
direction  ? 

Now,  where  a  man  sees  all  his  imperfections  swept 
away  by  Divine  love,  has  he  not  in  this  fact  the  greatest 
stimulus  that  he  could  have  toward  holiness  ?  No  man 
is  so  little  tempted  to  sin,  and  no  man  has  such  victory 
over  sin,  as  the  man  that  loves  Christ  because  He  died 
for  him,  because  He  lives  for  him,  and  because  through 
His  love  his  sins  are  washed  away  to  be  remembered  no 
more  forever. 


GOD  is  near  to  many  men  that  are  unconscious  of  His 
presence.  The  perfume  of  Divine  love  is  round  about 
many  men  that  do  not  perceive  it.  You  are  like  men 
who  have  no  sense  of  smell.  You  are  in  the  garden  of 
the  Lord,  and  you  call  it  a  wilderness.  But  wake,  0 
soul!  out  of  despondency.  If  you  are  —  as  you  know 
you  are  —  sinful,  and  you  long  for  something  better, 
take  hold  of  the  hand  of  Christ,  and  go  toward  it.  He 
will  hold  fast  to  your  hand,  and  will  lead  you  to  the  end; 
and  then  you  will  be  saved,  not  because  you  are  perfect, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  201 

but  because  He  has  swept  you  into  that  charmed  and 
blessed  sphere  where  the  flesh  and  the  world  shall  drag 
us  down  no  more,  but  where  our  enfranchised  manhood 
shall  lift  itself  up  in  ineffable  glory,  crystalline  purity, 
and  perfect  symmetry. 

IT  will  be  with  men's  excuses  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
when  God  looks  upon  them,  as  it  is  with  the  frost-pictures 
on  a  window  of  a  winter  morning,  when  the  sun  looks 
upon  them,  —  they  will  be  gone  with  His  looking.  The 
excuses  which  you  paint  in  this  life  to  justify  pride,  and 
selfishness,  and  disobedience,  and  recreancy,  will,  the  mo- 
ment you  stand  before  God,  melt  away. 


WHAT  is  the  Bible  in  your  house  ?  It  is  not  the  Old 
Testament ;  it  is  not  the  New  Testament ;  it  is  not  the 
Gospel  according  to  Matthew,  or  Mark,  or  Luke,  or 
John :  it  is  the  Gospel  according  to  William  ;  it  is  the 
Gospel  according  to  Mary ;  it  is  the  Gospel  according 
to  Henry  and  James  ;  it  is  the  Gospel  according  to  your 
name.  You  write  your  own  Bible.  To  every  njan  that 
sets  up  a  Christian  household,  God  says,  "I  am  going 
to  reveal  my  grace  through  you."  And  if  you  have  a 
Bible  in  your  family,  it  will  be  just  so  much  of  that  grace 
as  you  interpret  to  your  children  and  dependents.  And 
do  not  you  know  that  there  is  a  Bible  that  has  in  it  a 
large  Apocrypha  between  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
containing  Esdras,  and  Tobit,  and  Judith,  and  Ecclesias- 
ticus,  and  various  other  books.  Now,  there  is  in  your 
experience,  besides  the  revelation  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New  Testament,  an  intermediate  revelation  that 
is  false,  that  is  untrue ;  and  your  children  read  that 
living  Bible,  —  particularly  the  Apocrypha.  It  is  a 
9* 


202  ROYAL 'TRUTHS. 

solemn  thing  for  a  man  to  be  a  Bible  that  is  read  by 
those  about  him. 


Do  any  of  you  seem  to  yourselves  to  be  useless,  and 
say,  "  O  that  I  was  eloquent !  O  that  I  could  wield  the 
pen  of  a  ready  writer!  O  that  it  was  given  to  me  to  go 
forth  and  be  an  apostle  of  Christ !  "  It  is  given  to  every 
one  of  you  to  be  an  epistle  of  Christ,  known  and  read 
of  all  men.  By  your  humility,  by  your  truthfulness, 
by  your  justice,  by  all  the  things  that  make  you  like 
Christ,  you  become  His  minister,  and  you  are  known  and 
read  where  you  never  suspect  that  you  are  being  known 
and  read.  Take  care,  then,  and  speak  right  things  of 
Christ.  See  to  it  that  the  testimony  you  bear  of  Christ 
is  such  as  He  would  have  you  bear. 


A  CHILD  is  in  a  distant  country,  and  there  she  talks 
of  home ;  and  people  who  hear  her  say,  "  I  am  glad  I 
have  not  such  parents  as  she  had."  It  comes  to  her  ears 
afterwards,  and  she  says,  in  tears,  "  Did  I  leave  an  im- 
pression that  my  parents  were  bad?"  She  reproaches 
herself  for  having  done  anything  to  produce  such  an 
impression.  She  says,  "  My  father  and  mother  are 
noble  and  true,  and  I  fain  would  have  left  an  impression 
that  they  were  so."  And  as  children  feel  in  reference 
to  the  impression  they  leave  of  father  and  mother,  so 
ought  we  to  feel  in  reference  to  the  impression  we  leave 
of  God  and  Christ.  We  are  to  live  so  that  men  shall  be 
led  by  our  works  to  glorify  our  Father  in  heaven. 


THERE  is  a  providence, —  not  a  fatality,  not  a  coercive 
necessity :  but  a  broad,  beneficent  system  which  has, 
whatever  it  may  be,  such  a  relation  to  you  and  this 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  203 

world,  that  you  cannot  afford  to  be  uneasy.  You  can 
afford,  when  yon  have  done  your  best,  to  take  things 
easy,  and  enjoy  yourself.  Think,  if  you  want  to  think, 
as  long  as  it  is  pleasant  to  think ;  plan,  where  you  ought 
to  plan ;  labor,  where  you  ought  to  labor ;  achieve, 
where  you  ought  to  achieve ;  but  thinking,  planning, 
laboring,  achieving,  —  let  all  be  done  in  a  spirit  of 
confiding  trust.  As  little  children  will  frolic,  and  play, 
and  talk  to  themselves,  and  sing,  and  be  happy,  if  every 
time  they  look  up  they  can  see  their  mother's  form  or 
shadow,  or  hear  her  voice ;  so  we  are,  in  God's  greater 
household,  to  have  such  a  consciousness  of  our  Father's 
presence  as  shall  make  us  happy,  cheerful,  contented, 
in  our  sports  and  duties. 


ONE  reason  why  we  are  not  trustful  and  cheerful  is, 
that  we  believe  that  there  will  be  fulfilments  of  the  prom- 
ises of  God  only  so  far  as  they  are  wrought  out  in  the 
problems  of  our  understanding.  A  great  many  persons 
have  said  to  me,  when  I  propounded  this  to  them,  in 
view  of  their  adversities  and  extremities,  "  I  cannot  un- 
derstand how  there  should  be  a  special  providence  of 
God.  I  cannot  reconcile  the  theory  of  special  provi- 
dences with  my  ideas  of  general  law,  and  of  God's 
agency  in  nature."  That  is  to  say,  when  God  lays  down 
an  unquestionable  command,  of  the  most  explicit  kind, 
unless  you  can  go  behind  that  command,  and  can  find 
out  the  philosophy  of  it,  you  will  not  accept  it  at  His 
hands.  Simply  as  a  thing  commanded  by  your  Father, 
you  will  not,  with  the  faith  of  a  child,  accept  it.  If  you 
can  spin  it  on  your  wheel,  and  then  weave  it  in  your 
loom,  and  make  it  conform  to  your  pattern,  you  will 
accept  it ;  but  as  simply  from  the  hand  of  God,  you  will 
not  accept  it. 


204  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

Now,  I  like  to  reason;  I  like  to  search  out  results 
from  causes ;  but  it  is  sweet  for  a  man,  in  the  midst  of 
the  turmoils  and  troubles  of  life,  where  he  can,  to  rest 
himself  on  his  faith  in  God.  It  is  sweet  for  a  man  to  be 
able  to  say,  "  I  do  not  care  for  to-morrow.  I  do  not  fear 
what  shall  befall  me.  I  will  trust  in  God."  To  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  a  Divine  command,  where  I  can, 
afford*  me  satisfaction ;  but  where  a  command  comes 
from  such  authority,  and  with  such  variety  of  illustration 
in  nature,  as  this  one,  I  do  not  care  whether  I  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  it  or  not.  My  soul  is  hungry 
for  it,  and  I  accept  it  because  my  God  has  given  it.  I 
trust  and  rest  in  God,  simply  because  He  has  said,  "You 
may,  and  you  must."  That  is  ground  enough. 


CHRIST  says,  "  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? " 
Yes,  I  hope  so;  though  now  and  then  I  feel  mean 
enough  to  say  "No"  to  this  question.  Now  and  then 
I  have  such  a  sense  of  the  poverty  and  the  miserableness 
of  human  life,  that  I  am  tempted  to  say  that  a  man  is  no 
better  than  birds. 

It  is  only  when  you  come  to  consider  not  merely  our 
relations  to  this  world,  but  our  relations  to  the  future ; 
not  merely  our  imperfections  and  ungrowth  here,  but  our 
immortality  in  the  world  to  come,  that  we  seem  better 
than  birds  or  flowers.  When  you  take  in  the  root,  and 
the  stem,  and  the  everlasting  growth,  and  the  fruit  of 
human  life,  then  are  we  not  much  better  than  birds  and 
flowers  ? 


ONE  text  that  hooks  a  man  to  God,  and  that  makes 
him  feel  that  in  Him  he  has  a  Father  who  wheels  the 
bright  army  of  the  stars,  who  carries  the  globe  in  its  rev- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  205 

olutions,  who  is  the  Controller  of  time  and  of  eternity,  who 
is  the  Creator  and  Sustainer  of  all  mankind,  —  one  such 
text,  0,  how  it  takes  away  care,  and  anxiety,  and  sor- 
row !  How  much  food  there  is  in  your  Father's  house 
that  you  never  tasted!  In  that  house  there  is  hread 
enough  and  to  spare  ;  and  yet  you  go  fretting  and  wor- 
rying through  life,  borrowing  trouble  about  the  future, 
with  which  you  have  no  concern,  and  making  yourself 
miserable  in  the  present,  with  which  you  have  concern. 


OUT  of  every  night  God  is  making  a  path  by  His  hand 
for  the  morning,  and  for  you  ;  and  out  of  every  day  God 
is  making  a  bed  of  darkness  for  the  night,  and  for  you. 


"  BEHOLD  the  fowls  of  the  air ;  they  sow  not,  neither 
do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns." 

I  thought  of  that  to-day,  for  when  I  was  very  busy 
sowing  some  seed,  a  bobolink  flew  over  my  head,  with  a 
wild,  sarcastic  descant,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Go  on,  old 
clod-crusher !  you  sow,  and  I  will  rejoice."  He  flew 
past,  and  I  understood  him. 


O,  IF  this  life  were  all  that  I  could  have,  I  should 
weep,  it  seems  to  me,  from  the  present  hour  to  the  very 
end,  unless  I  could  say  as  the  ancients  did,  "  Let  us  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry.  To-morrow  we  die,  so  let  us  make 
the  best  of  the  little  time  that  is  left  us."  I  should  be  in 
a  state  of  wanton,  merry  despair,  on  the  one  side  ;  or  of 
tearful,  sad  despair,  on  the  other  side.  I  must  live  again. 
I  must  make  the  experiment  of  life  once  more.  I  have 
made  poor  work  here,  but  I  have  met  with  just  success 
enough  to  feel  that  if  I  had  a  better  chance  I  could  do 
something.  I  am  like  a  man  that  takes  the  first  canvas 


206  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

to  paint  a  picture.  He  does  not  know  what  he  will  do. 
He  lays  in  forms  in  all  sorts  of  ways  without  coming  to 
any  satisfactory  result.  At  last  he  says,  "  I  cannot  make 
anything  of  that  picture;  but  I  have  a  cenception.  Bring 
me  a  fresh  canvas,  and  I  will  try  again,  when  I  think  I 
shall  have  better  success."  I  have  long  been  trying  to 
paint  n  true  life,  and  have  only  partially  succeeded  ;  but 
if  God-Almighty  will  give  me  another  canvas,  I  think  I 
can  paint  better.  And  He  will.  He  that  brought  forth 
from  the  dead  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  will 
bring  me  forth.  And,  thank  God,  when  I  go  home  to 
heaven,  I  shall  leave  behind  many  things  that  will  be 
of  no  use  to  me  there.  When  an  engine  is  taken  from 
one  boat  and  placed  in  another,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  fastenings  should  go  with  it.  The  screws  and  clamps 
and  feeding-pumps  that  belong  to  that  peculiar  ship  from 
which  it  is  taken  may  be  left  behind.  The  screws  and 
clamps  and  feeding-pumps  that  have  been  necessary  to 
keep  my  mind  in  this  body,  and  that  it  has  given  me  so 
much  trouble  to  patch  and  mend,  I  shall  leave  in  the  grave. 
But  my  supremest  reason,  my  divinest  sentiments  of  re- 
ligion, my  affections  and  loves,  my  tastes,  —  these  God, 
the  blessed  Pilot,  shall  carry  safely  through  the  grave 
and  its  darkness,  and  I  shall  be  planted  again  in  heaven, 
where  snows  never  fall,  where  frosts  never  come,  and  I 
shall  bring  out  leaf  and  blossom  and  fruit ;  and  then, 
with  leaf  and  blossom  and  fruit,  I  will  present  myself  at 
the  Throne  of  God,  saying,  "  Thou  hast  given  me  life, 
and  life  again,  and  life  forever :  to  Thee,  and  to  Thee 
only,  be  praise  and  honor  and  glory,  evermore." 


WHAT  is  more  beautiful  that  that  centrality,  that  self- 
serving,  that  selfness,  which  God  has  given   to   every 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  207 

man,  and  which  leads  him  to  take  care  of  himself? 
What  business  we  would  have  if  we  were  obliged  to  take 
care  of  each  other  !  How  wonderfully  God  has  lightened 
the  work  of  life  by  giving  to  every  human  being  an  instinct 
by  which  he  is  led  to  care  for  himself!  This  attribute  of 
our  nature  relieves  the  world  of  a  vast  accumulation  of 
painstaking.  And  yet  how  deep  —  no  man  can  measure, 
—  how  broad  —  no  man  can  estimate,  —  have  been  the 
mischiefs  that  have  sprung  from  this  element  of  selfness  ; 
for  when  selfness  is  carried  beyond  a  certain  point,  it  be- 
comes selfishness,  and  therefore  an  instrument  of  evil. 
The  evil  does  not  proceed  from  the  quality  of  the  thing ; 
it  is  simply  the  result  of  not  watching  to  see  where  the 
thing  ceases  to  be  good,  and  begins  to  take  hold  on  that 
which  is  bad. 


A  HUNTER  scorns  a  pigeon-roost ;  because  he  would 
fain  have  some  reward  in  skill  and  ingenuity  ;  and  he 
feels  that  to  fire  into  a  pigeon-roost  is  shocking  butchery. 
But  for  that  feeling  I  should  like  no  better  amusement 
than  to  answer  the  sermons  of  men  who  attempt  to  estab- 
lish the  right  of  slavery  out  of  the  Bible.  It  would  be 
simple  butchery !  A  man  must  be  addicted  to  blood  who 
would  fire  a  twenty-four  pounder  into  a  flock  of  black- 
birds or  crows ! 


As  a  boy  that  cannot  write  at  all  looks  with  wonder 
and  admiration  upon  the  performance  of  a  writing-master 
who  without  thought  can  form  the  letters  and  sentences 
so  as  to  make  the  page  look  like  engraving,  while  the 
master  himself  has  no  idea  that  he  is  doing  anything 
extraordinary ;  so  men  looked  with  wonder  and  admira- 
tion upon  the  miracles  of  Christ,  by  which  He  fed  the 


208  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

multitude,  turned  water  into  wine,  healed  the  sick, 
cast  out  devils,  brought  the  dead  from  their  shadowy 
land,  and  evoked  victory  out  of  defeat,  while  Christ 
himself  did  not  regard  these  things  as  of  very  great 
importance.  They  were  merely  the  authentication  of 
His  divinity.  The  real  thing  for  which  He  came  was 
that  which  lay  beyond  this.  His  errand  was  to  bring 
upon  the  human  soul  a  cleansing  power,  an  inspiring 
power,  a  formative  power.  He  was  to  set  us  free  from 
sin,  inspire  in  us  a  longing  for  purity,  and  form  our  char- 
acter on  that  basis.  .Accordingly,  Christ  is  presented 
mainly  in  the  New  Testament,  from  beginning  to  end, 
in  His  relations  to  the  soul  of  man.  Even  when  He  is 
compared  with  His  Father,  it  is  always  as  a  means  of 
exhibiting  with  greater  power  His  curative  relation  to 
the  human  soul. 

ONE  of  the  delicacies  in  this  world  is,  that  when  two 
souls  come  together,  and  unite  with  each  other,  no  one 
has  a  right  to  meddle  with  them,  to  know  their  most 
blessed  intercourse,  or  to  interpret  their  thoughts  to  each 
other.  They  are  to  be  let  alone.  And  when  a  soul  goes 
up  in  the  enthusiasm  of  its  affianced  love  to  unite  itself  to 
Jesus  Christ,  shall  not  its  trust  be  respected  ?  Shall  any- 
thing separate  it  from  Him?  No,  nothing.  It  is  God 
that  surrounds  us,  it  is  the  eternal  Father  that  rejoices  in 
us ;  and  at  no  time  does  He  rejoice  in  us  more  than  when 
we  are  giving  our  life  and  our  being  to  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour. 


THE  very  word  "  God  "  suggests  care,  kindness,  good- 
ness. The  very  idea  of  God  in  His  infinity,  is  infinite 
care,  infinite  kindness,  infinite  goodness.  We  give  God 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  209 

the  name  of  good  ;  it  is  only  by  shortening  it  that  it  be- 
comes God,  —  a  vulgarizing  almost  of  the  term. 


IN  the  exigences  of  business  —  in  all  cases  where  men 
are  in  doubt  and  perplexity  as  to  what  is  right  and  what 
is  best,  as  to  what  you  may  do  and  what  you  may  not  do 
—  be  sure  to  give  the  greater  advantage  to  the  moral  ele- 
ment. If  you  make  a  mistake,  let  it  be  on  the  right  side. 
It  is  better  that  a  man  should  not  avail  himself  of  liberties 
that  he  might  take,  than  that  he  should  avail  himself  of 
advantages  that  he  should  not  take.  It  is  better  for  a 
man  to  be  too  careful  and  scrupulous,  than  for  him  to  be 
unscrupulous  and  careless.  Men  that  look  at  everything 
simply  in  the  light  of  their  own  interests,  grow  narrow, 
mean,  and  foolish,  and  at  last  come  to  stand  in  their  own 
light.  I  think  there  is  nothing  more  foolish  in  life  than 
this  kind  of  selfishness,  which  really  stands  in  a  man's  own 
way.  I  often  see  men  that  are  so  selfish  that  they  can- 
not prosper.  Men  that  settle  all  questions  by  reference 
to  some  higher  standards  —  by  benevolence,  conscience, 
humanity  —  will  find  that  these  arbiters  of  duty  will 
avail,  in  the  end,  not  only  for  spiritual  good,  but  for  sec- 
ular good  also. 

The  broader  the  pattern  which  a  man  is  made  upon, 
the  more  will  he  have  it  in  his  power  to  control  the  con- 
ditions of  success,  even  in  this  life.  Therefore,  let  me  say 
to  every  young  man,  always  reason  up.  In  every  exi- 
gence reason  up.  Never  reason  down,  under  any  circum- 
stances. Never  allow  yourself  to  say,  "  But  may  I  not 
do  this  ?  "  Never  say,  "  Has  not  this  knot  been  tied  too 
tight?  Is  there  not  too  much  moral  restriction  in  this 
direction  ?  "  Always  make  your  Christian  manhood  come 
between  you  and  the  endeavor  to  go  down  in  the  scale 

N 


210  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

toward  perdition.  Do  not  say,  "  What  may  I  venture  to 
do  ?  "  but  say,  "  Lord,  help  me  to  rise  higher  than  other 
men  are,  and  to  refuse  the  things  that  make  men  low. 
Let  it  be  mine  to  go  from  strength  to  strength,  and  from 
nobility  to  nobility,  till  I  become  more  pure,  more  just, 
more  benevolent,  than  the  customs  and  laws  require  me 
to  be." 

Men,  instead  of  listening  for  a  moment  to  this  argu- 
ment, say  that  a  person  who  confines  himself  to  such  a 
course  of  life  as  I  am  recommending,  cannot  be  as  smart 
as  one  who  does  not ;  but  I  say  he  will  be  smarter. 
Goodness  is  smarter  than  baseness.  Uprightness  has 
more  genius,  more  executiveness,  more  power,  more  real 
aptitude  for  business,  than  rascality.  Give  me  a  broad 
conscience-man,  who  looks  over  the  field  of  life  with  an 
equitable  regard  for  his  fellow-men ;  who  makes  their 
interests  his  interests,  because  he  loves  them.  Such  a 
man  has  more  statesmanship  in  his  conscience  than  other 
men  have  in  all  their  sharpness  and  discernment.  Sharp 
men,  like  sharp  needles,  break  easy,  though  they  pierce 
quick.  There  is  no  fallacy  more  universal  or  more  fatal 
than  that  which  teaches  that  there  is  no  temper  except 
in  wickedness ;  for  I  aver  that  God  puts  into  a  man's 
soul  more  temper,  more  executive  power,  more  of  the 
elements  of  success,  than  the  Devil  ever  did  by  his  crafti- 
ness, or  than  Mammon  ever  did  by  his  selfish,  wicked  ex- 
pedients. 

Now,  I  should  be  ashamed  to  ask  a  man  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian from  motives  drawn  from  the  exchequer ;  but  if  it 
be  true  that  godliness  is  profitable,  the  city  is  just  the 
place  where  there  are  men  that  want  to  know  it ;  and  I 
declare  my  faith  in  this  doctrine,  not  merely  because  God 
teaches  it,  (though  that  would  be  reason  enough,)  but 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  211 

because  I  see  it  exemplified  in  life.  For  these  reasons, 
then,  I  say  that  a  religious  life,  begun  early,  is  the  surest 
road  to  honor,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 


IP  I  understand  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  He  says, 
"  You  had  better  lose  your  life  than  do  wrong."  If  you 
stand  where  a  man  says  to  you,  looking  with  open  eye  on 
that  which  is  wicked,  "  You  shall  do  this  or  forfeit  your 
place  in  my  establishment,"  Christ  says,  "Forfeit  your 
right  hand  before  you  do  it."  And  suppose  he  does  kick 
you  out,  where  does  he  kick  you  to  ?  Into  the  bosom  of 
God  Almighty's  providence.  You  think  of  the  man  who 
gives  you  permission  to  sleep  under  the  counter  in  his 
shop,  and  to  draw  one  hundred  pounds  this  year,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  next  year,  and  deem  it  worth 
your  while  to  court  his  favor ;  and  are  you  not  to  regard 
Him  who  sits  on  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  gives 
you  your  existence,  and  promises  you  eternal  life  ?  Are 
you  not  to  regard  Him  who  holds  the  earth  in  His  hand, 
and  gives  life  to  the  wicked  man  that  employs  you,  and 
would  pervert  you  for  his  own  selfish  interests  ?  He  de- 
clares, "  Give  up  your  eye,  your  foot,  your  hand,  nay, 
even  life  itself,  rather  than  consent  to  do  evil.  For 
what  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  " 

Now,  I  say  to  every  young  man,  Go  out  of  any  estab- 
lishment where  it  is  insisted  that  you  shall  do  wicked 
things,  quicker  than  a  shot  goes  out  of  a  cannon  when  it 
is  fired ;  and  not  only  go  out  of  it,  but  keep  out  of  it : 
unless  you  made  a  bargain  that  when  he  bought  your 
services,  he  bought  you.  In  that  case  I  have  nothing  to 
say,  —  I  do  not  speak  to  slaves.  If,  however,  you  went 
into  an  office,  a  manufactory,  a  carpenter's  shop  —  no 


212  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

matter  where  —  as  a  man,  and  engaged  your  services,  no 
one  has  any  authority  to  control  you  in  moral  things. 
There  you  stand  a  free  man,  and  there  you  are  to  pro- 
duce the  charter  of  your  liberty,  and  say, "  God  Almighty 
made  me  to  bo  His  son,  and  shall  I  throw  away  my  son- 
ship  ?  No ;  I  will  stand  for  that  which  is  right,  though 
life  itself  shall  fail."  And  I  tell  you,  this  is  a  salt  of  fire, 
a  baptism  of  blood,  which  no  man  can  experience  without 
coming  out  a  saint;  and  a  man  who  has  experienced  it,  is 
as  much  stronger  and  better  than  one  who  has  not,  as  a 
man  who  is  a  man  is  better  than  one  who  only  pretends 
to  be  one. 


I  SAY  to  every  man  you  ought  to  have  a  conscience  so 
active,  so  sensitive  by  daily  communion  with  God,  so 
bathed  in  the  sweet  ways  and  meditations  of  a  Christian 
life,  that  you  shall  be  misled  and  deceived  by  no  example, 
and  by  no  specious  reasoning.  A  man  who  has  a  correct 
watch  learns  to  trust  it.  After  he  has  thoroughly  tried 
his  faithful  servant  of  the  pocket,  and  knows  that  through 
months  and  years  it  has  given  him  true  reports,  he  places 
great  reliance  upon  it.  He  may  ask  the  time  of  the  town 
clock,  but  if  it  gives  a  different  report  from  that  given  by 
his  watch,  he  at  once  says  to  the  clock,  "  Thou  liest."  He 
may  ask  the  time  of  his  friend  whom  he  meets  in  the 
street,  and  he  takes  the  report  t>f  his  friend's  watch  till  he 
looks  at  his  own,  when,  finding  that  they  differ,  he  says, 
"  Mine  must  be  right,  for  it  never  deceives  me."  Every 
man  should  keep  an  account  of  celestial  time ;  and  setting 
his  own  heart  and  his  own  conscience  by  the  beats  and 
throbs  of  God  Almighty's  heart,  he  should  take  counsel 
of,  and  believe  in,  no  other.  He  should  compare  himself 
daily  with  this  standard,  and  should  take  no  testimony 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  213 

against  that.  He  that  has  an  open  face,  and  looks  into 
the  open  face  of  God,  shall  be  a  child  of  light,  a  child  of 
liberty,  and  a  child  of  glory. 


I  WAS  living  in  the  West,  and  was  in  straitened  circum- 
stances. I  think  that,  for  a  period  of  four  years,  there 
had  not  been  a  time  when  some  member  of  my  family 
was  not  sick  from  the  malaria  which  prevailed  in  that 
part  of  the  country.  I  did  not  expect  or  desire  to  be 
anything  except  a  missionary.  I  was  contented,  but 
quite  poor,  so  far  as  money  was  concerned.  But  there 
came  a  time  when  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  should  be 
ousted  from  even  the  humble  berth  I  occupied ;  and  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  if  I  was,  I  should  go  to  some 
smaller  place  where  my  services  would  be  acceptable. 
The  reason  why  I  expected  to  be  ousted  was,  that  I  had 
attempted  to  stand  up  against  the  leading  men  of  the 
vicinity  where  I  was,  on  the  slavery  question,  at  a  time 
when  the  people  of  Indiana  did  not  dare  to  say  that  their 
soul  was  their  own,  or  that  the  negro's  soul  was  his  own. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  my  church  would  be  shut,  and  that 
I  should  be  deprived  of  the  means  on  which  I  depended 
for  the  support  of  my  family.  And  I  recollect  that  on  a 
certain  day,  while  reflecting  upon  the  unhappy  state  of 
my  affairs,  I  read  this  passage,  —  "  Let  your  conversa- 
tion be  without  covetousness,"  —  that  is,  Do  not  borrow 
trouble  about  where  your  salary  is  coming  from,  —  "  and 
be  content  with  such  things  as  ye  have."  "  Why,  yes," 
I  thought,  "  I  have  not  many  things  ;  but  I  will  be  con- 
tent with  them."  And  now  for  the  royalty  of  the  reason 
for  contentment :  "  For  he  hath  said,  I  will  never  leave 
thee  nor  forsake  thee."  These  words,  as  I  read  them, 
seemed  as  really  a  message  from  God  to  me,  as  if  the 


214  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

white  form  of  an  angel  had  spoken  to  me,  saying, "  Henry, 
I  am  sent  to  tell  thee  from  your  God,  I  will  never  leave 
thee  nor  forsake  thee."  And  the  rest  of  the  passage  is 
this,  — "  So  that  we  may  boldly  say,  The  Lord  is  my 
helper,  and  I  will  not  fear  what  man  shall  do  unto  me." 
I  then  thought,  "  Now,  Mr.  Elders,  shut  up  the  church  if 
you  have  a  mind  to.  I  am  not  afraid  of  any  man  that 
lives,  since  I  have  this  message  from  my  God."  It  sank 
like  a  seed  into  my  soul,  and  it  has  never  been  rooted 
out.  If  there  is  any  text  of  the  Bible  that  has  been  an 
anchor  to  me,  it  is  that  one.  I  have  swung  with  it 
through  many  a  storm.  It  has  held  me  a  thousand  times 
if  it  has  once.  I  never  think  of  it  that  it  is  not  to  my 
soul  like  a  touch  on  the  keys  of  a  piano.  There  is  always 
music  in  it  to  me.  "  Let  your  conversation  be  without 
covetousness."  Do  not  fidget,  and  worry,  and  vex  your- 
self about  how  the  ends  are  going  to  meet.  You  may  be 
sure  that  they  always  will  meet,  though  you  may  not 
always  see  how  they  can  meet.  If  they  do  not  meet  in 
this  life,  a  man  dies  ;  and  then  they  meet.  I  used  often 
to  think,  "  If  they  do  their  worst,  they  can  only  kill  me ; 
and  I  shall  thank  them  for  that."  When  to  shove  a  man 
through  a  door  is  to  shove  him  into  heaven,  you  cannot 
do  him  any  great  indignity. 


WE  cannot  come  to  the  conviction  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ  so  well  by  the  intellectual  and  philosophical  meth- 
od as  we  can  by  the  spiritual  and  experimental  method. 
This  latter  method  is  the  method  of  the  New  Testament ; 
and  I  think,  that  in  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  it  will  be  found  to  be  the  true  method.  We 
are  first  to  employ  Christ  by  faith  in  all  the  offices  which 
He  sustains  to  the  soul ;  and  then,  I  hold,  no  other  argu- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  215 

merit  can  produce  such  a  conviction  of  His  substantial 
and  glorious  divinity,  as  will  come  from  His  effects  upon 
the  soul.  In  accepting  Christ  in  all  His  glorious  offices, 
as  prophet,  priest,  and  king,  we  have  the  best  conceivable 
evidence  of  His  divinity. 


WHAT  do  you  suppose  Baron  Humboldt  would  have 
been  to  an  Indian  boy  fifteen  years  of  age,  if  he  had  come 
before  him  with  all  his  astronomic,  geometric,  and  geo- 
graphic knowledge, — with  all  his  scientific  knowledge,— 
with  all  the  boundless  wealth  of  his  great  mind  ?  Why, 
the  largeness  of  Humboldt's  being,  his  power  of  thought, 
everything  that  made  him  the  philosopher  that  he  was, 
would  have  fairly  eclipsed  the  poor  Indian  boy.  You 
might  as  well  bring  the  sun  down  before  my  eyes,  blazing 
me  blind,  to  give  me  a  conception  of  that  mighty  orb,  as 
to  bring  the  fulness  of  such  a  mind  as  Humboldt's  before 
the  mental  vision  of  an  undeveloped  Indian  boy,  to  give 
him  a  conception  of  that  mind.  It  is  dark  where  there  is 
too  much  light,  as  well  as  where  there  is  too  little.  If 
being  is  to  help  being,  there  must  be  some  proportion 
between  the  being  helping  and  the  being  to  be  helped. 

Now,  if  it  had  pleased  God  to  come  to  earth  in  all  the 
fulness  of  His  glory,  man  could  not,  according  to  the  dec- 
laration of  Scripture,  have  looked  upon  Him  and  lived. 
He  not  only  could  not  have  understood  Him,  but  he 
could  not  have  borne  the  shock  of  contact  with  Him. 
Christ  therefore  veiled  Himself,  laid  aside  the  glory  of 
the  Father  which  belonged  to  Him,  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  bring  Himself  within  the  ordinary  reaches  of  the  hu- 
man mind. 


CHRIST  comes  to  every  man,  and  demands  of  him  love. 


216  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

He  presents  Himself  in  every  aspect  in  which  a  greater 
mind  can  be  presented  to  a  lower ;  He  presents  Himself 
as  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  your  per- 
sonal friend,  and  your  elder  brother ;  He  embodies  in 
Himself  every  tender  relationship  of  which  we  can  con- 
ceive; and  He  asks,  He  claims  as  His  right,  that  you 
should  love  Him. 

If  love  were  a  sealed  fountain,  if  you  had  never 
learned  to  love,  you  would  be  less  to  blame  for  neglect- 
ing to  love  Christ.  But  among  the  things  taught  ear- 
liest is  love  ;  among  the  things  most  experienced  in  life, 
is  love  ;  and  among  the  things  remembered  latest,  is  love. 
"When  the  child  comes  into  life,  almost  the  first  thing  he 
does  is  to  send  out  his  heart  in  trust  and  confidence  and 
love ;  and  though  the  objects  of  his  primal  affection  are 
limited  and  imperfect,  they  are  sufficient  to  excite  in  him 
the  dormant  spark  of  love.  But  when  it  is  the  infinite 
Creator ;  when  it  is  the  glorious  God ;  when  it  is  He  that 
for  you  has  laid  down  His  own  life;  when  it  is  He, 
rather,  that  has  taken  it  up  again,  and  lives-  to  intercede 
for  you ;  when  it  is  He  that  sends  you,  day  by  day,  fresh 
glories,  and  that,  night  after  nigHt,  surrounds  you  with 
mercies ;  when  it  is  He  that  through  all  the  periods  of 
your  life  watches  over  you  with  most  tender  solicitude 
and  scrupulous  fidelity ;  when  it  is  He  that  outvies  all 
other  affections,  and  showers  His  own  upon  you  more 
copiously  than  clouds  ever  rained  drops,  or  seasons  ever 
gave  forth  fruit ;  when  it  is  He  that  comes  to  you,  and 
says,  "  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart,"  —  what  will  you 
do  with  this  Jesus  that  yearns  for  your  love  ?  "Will  you 
love  Him? 


DID  you  ever  reflect  that  there  is  not,  in  the  whole 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  217 

New  Testament,  one  caution  or  guard  against  our  over- 
trusting  and  over-exalting  Christ?  You  never  would  send 
a  child  to  a  person  under  circumstances  such  as  those 
under  which  we  are  sent  to  Christ,  if  we  are  not  to  trust 
in  Him,  and  exalt  Him.  You  never  would  dream  of  send- 
ing a  child  into  the  presence  of  one  in  every  way  calcu- 
lated to  win  its  affections  and  confidence,  unless  it  was 
right  and  proper  that  it  should  cherish  affection  for,  and 
repose  confidence  in,  that  person.  Suppose  that  children 
were  to  be  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  teacher  by  whom 
would  be  presented  to  them  all  that  was  admirable  in 
character,  all  that  was  winning  in  affection,  all  that  was 
stimulating  and  glittering  in  imagination,  that  which  drew 
about  itself  every  one  of  the  tendrils  of  sprouting  life  in 
them,  when  it  was  known  that  this  was  only  professional, 
and  that  they  were  in  the  end  to  be  wrenched  and  torn 
from  the  object  to  which  their  hearts  had  become  so  firmly 
bound,  as  the  husk  is  wrenched  and  torn  from  the  corn. 
"What  would  be  thought  of  such  a  course  in  the  case  of  a 
teacher  and  his  pupils  ? 

Now  behold  Christ.  What  being  can  be  conceived  of 
that  would  be  more  likely  to  arouse  aspiration,  to  catch 
the  longing  heart,  to  win  the  affection  and  the  confidence  ? 
Consider  what  must  be  the  result  if  we  are  brought  under 
the  influence  of  such  a  being.  And  if  it  is  wrong,  if  it  is 
idolatrous  for  us  to  love  Christ,  and  depend  upon  Him, 
how  cruel  it  is  that  we  should  be  placed  in  such  relations 
to  Him  that  we  are  drawn  to  Him  and  led  to  throw  our- 
selves upon  Him,  and  obliged  to  say,  "Our  life  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God.  Without  Him,  we  are  nothing.  In 
Him,  we  are  all  things.  He  is  our  way,  our  hope,  our 
light,  our  bright  and  morning  star,"  and  receive  not  one 
word  of  caution,  not  one  monitory  remark,  not  one  hint 

10 


218  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

or  admonition  that  it  is  not  worth  our  while  to  trust  in 
Him,  or  that  it  is  wicked  to  worship  Him ;  not  even  so 
much  as  this :  Be  careful  that  you  do  not  put  the  crown 
on  His  head,  lest  you  cheat  the  eternal  Father !  And  if 
it  is  not  right  for  us  to  love  Him,  and  trust  Him,  and 
worship  Him,  then,  instead  of  a  Saviour,  we  have  a  rav- 
ening, destroying  being  in  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. If  I  may  put  my  being  on  Him ;  if  I  may  feel 
that  He  has  suffered  for  my  sins,  that  He  has  borne  my 
sorrows,  and  that  my  life  is  grafted  into  Him ;  and  if  I 
may  pour  out  everything  in  me  of  thought,  and  zeal,  and 
worship  toward  Him,  —  then  blessed  be  God  for  Him ; 
but  if  it  is  wicked  for  me  to  do  these  things,  then  I  can- 
not thank  God  for  Him.  God  should  not  have  added  to 
the  misery  of  our  condition  by  giving  us  such  a  being, 
and  then  making  it  wicked  for  us  to  worship  Him. 

But  I  am  not  afraid  to  worship  Christ.  I  will  trust 
myself  to  worship  Him.  I  will  trust  those  dearest  to  me 
to  worship  Him.  In  the  arms  of  Christ's  love  nothing 
shall  hurt  you.  Love  on,  trust  on,  worship  on.  •  Let  go 
your  most  ardent  devotions  toward  Him.  There  is  no 
Divine  Jealousy.  The  anxieties  "that  afflict  the  sons  of 
earth  in  their  ideas  of  God,  never  exist  in  heaven.  Christ 
is  the  soul's  bread,  —  eat  ye  that  hunger.  He  is  the 
water  of  life,  —  drink  ye  that  thirst.  He  is  the  soul's  end, 
—  aim  at  Him.  He  is  the  soul's  supreme  glory,  —  yield 
to  every  outgush  of  joy  and  enthusiasm  of  worship  that 
springs  up  in  your  heart  toward  Him.  Those  that  are 
in  heaven  bow  down  before  Him,  and  ascribe  blessing, 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  to  Him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb,  forever  and  ever.  Let  us 
not,  then,  fear  to  worship  Christ. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  219 

YOUR  honors  here  may  serve  you  for  a  time,  as  it  were 
for  an  hour,  but  they  will  be  of  no  use  to  you  beyond  this 
world.  Nobody  will  have  heard  a  word  of  your  honors 
in  the  other  life.  Your  glory,  your  shame,  your  ambi- 
tions, and  all  the  treasures  for  which  you  push  hard  and 
sacrifice  much  will  be  like  wreaths  of  smoke.  For  these 
things,  which  you  mostly  seek,  and  for  which  you  spend 
your  life,  only  tarry  with  you  while  you  are  on  this  side 
of  the  flood. 


WHEN  a  man,  standing  before  a  magnificent  work  of 
art,  or  some  wonderful  phenomenon  of  nature,  —  some 
rugged  mountain,  some  thunderous  fall,  like  that  of 
Niagara,  or  some  beautiful  landscape  valley,  —  finds  his 
taste  so  waked  up  that  he  loses  command  of  himself,  and 
breaks  forth  into  an  ecstasy  of  admiration,  his  sensations 
are  transcendent. 

But  when  we  stand,  not  before  unspeaking  canvas,  or 
inert  mountains,  or  senseless  water,  but  in  the  presence 
of  some  hero,  some  man  that  has  stood  among  men 
nobler  than  the  noblest,  and  truer  than  the  truest,  and 
has  carried  the  fate  of  a  nation  in  his  hand  without  be- 
traying it,  how  grand  a  thing  is  a  true  man,  that  carries 
in  his  life  and  conduct  something  of  God !  And  who  is 
there  that  is  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  know  what  a  glori- 
ous thing  it  is  to  go  out  in  admiration,  almost  in  worship, 
toward  such  a  man  ? 

But  what,  then,  ought  our  feelings  to  be  when  we 
stand,  not  before  a  man,  nor  before  a  mere  spark,  but 
before  the  everlasting  God ;  when  we  stand  before  that 
Being  who  created  the  innumerable  orbs  of  which  this 
earth  is  but  a  specimen  ;  when  we  stand  before  that  Being 
whose  ways  generations  and  ages  have  sought  in  vain 


220  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

to  find  out ;  when  we  stand  before  that  Being  of  whose 
love  all  the  affections  of  father,  and  mother,  and  husband, 
and  wife,  and  child,  and  brother,  and  sister,  and  friend,  and 
lover,  are  but  faint  intimations,  and  of  whose  attributes  the 
divine  qualities  of  men  are  but  the  slightest  hints  ? '  And 
when  he  conies  as  our  maker  and  preserver,  and  the 
author  of  the  eternal  inheritance  of  bliss  prepared  for 
us,  and  asks  that  we  experience  this  rapture  of  admira- 
tion for  Him,  how  reasonable  is  His  request,  and  how 
blessed  to  us  ought  to  be  the  prerogative  and  privilege  of 
making  Him  the  object  of  our  highest  worship ! 


To  me  it  seems,  and  has  always  seemed,  very  strange 
that  there  should  be  a  kind  of  hesitation  at  worshipping 
Christ  by  those  who  believe  that  their  ideas  of  the  Father 
are  derived  from  Him.  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 
time ;  the  only-begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  hath  declared  Him."  If  you  take  a  given  num- 
ber of  qualities,  and  lift  them  up,  and  call  them  God,  you 
worship,  not  the  name,  but  the  qualities  ;  and  if  you  take 
the  same  qualities,  and  lift  them  up,  and  call  them  Christ, 
you  still  ought  to  worship  the  qualities,  and  not  the  name. 
There  are  many  persons  who  do  not  hesitate  to  lift  up 
the  qualities  which  they  see  in  Christ,  and  call  them 
"  Father,"  and  pray  to  them,  and  worship  them,  who 
have  a  superstition  about  praying  to  these  same  qualities 
and  worshipping  them  when  they  are  called  "  Christ" 
But  they  are  the  same,  whether  you  call  them  "  Father  " 
or  "  Christ"  All  that  you  know  of  God,  and  all  that 
you  have  in  distinction  from  the  heathen  world,  has  come 
to  you  through  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  It  is  what 
you  see  in  Him,  and  though  you  may  worship  it  under 
the  name  of  "  Father,"  it  is  Christ  that  you  worship. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  221 

Why  not,  then,  worship  Him  under  His  own  name  ?  We 
need  not  consult  our  fear,  we  may  consult  our  longing,  as 
to  whether  we  shall  lean  upon  the  Saviour. 


CHRIST  says  that  in  every  burdened  hour  He  is  your 
staff;  that  in  every  peril  He  is  your  rescuer ;  that  in  ev- 
ery temptation  He  is  the  gate  through  which  you  are  to 
escape;  that  in  every  sickness  He  is  your  physician. 
Yea,  He  stands  in  the  portal  of  the  grave  itself,  and  de- 
clares that  He  has  power  over  death.  "  Because  I  live, 
ye  shall  live  also."  He  takes  the  very  keys  of  the  other 
life,  and  opens  the  door  thereof,  and  stands  the  universal 
Saviour,  and  with  a  voice  like  that  of  one  born  to  com- 
mand, and  clothed  with  the  supremacy  of  Divine  power, 
He  says,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world." 

Consider  what  scope  there  is  in  these  representations 
of  Christ.  All  our  wants  for  time  and  for  eternity  are 
made  to  point  toward  and  centre  in  Him,  as  their  ever- 
lasting supply.  Suppose,  then,  instead  of  hunting  texts, 
and  attempting  to  prove  by  force  of  logic  that  He  is  abso- 
lute God,  we  should  take  that  other  process,  which  con- 
sists in  every  day  attempting  to  employ  Him  as  He  is 
presented  to  be  employed  in  the  New  Testament ;  sup- 
pose our  life  should  settle  this  matter  ;  suppose  we  should 
find  in  our  personal  experience  evidence  of  His  divinity, 
—  what  would  be  the  effect  ?  If  He  feeds  you,  if  He 
quenches  your  thirst,  if  He  wakes  your  imagination,  if 
He  inspires  your  sweetest  thoughts  and  feelings,  if  He 
sustains  you,  if  He  is  your  vital  breath  and  your  strength 
here  and  your  salvation  hereafter,  and  you  acknowledge 
what  He  does,  and  accept  Him  as  what  He  is,  then,  I  ask, 
can  any  worship  be  higher  than  that  which  you  offer  to 


222  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

Him  ?     Can  you  reserve  anything  better  than  you  have 
given  to  Him  ? 

THE  angels  sang,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace  " ;  but  the  angels  were  prophets.  They 
saw  through  a  long  tube,  and  the  peace  which  they  saw 
was  the  bright  crystal  gate  of  the  future.  Christ  at  the 
other  end  of  the  tube,  said,  "  I  came  not  to  send  peace, 
but  a  sword."  He  came  to  send  tumult,  revolution,  war. 
And  why  ?  Because  He  meant  to  have  peace.  That  is 
just  what  He  meant  to  have. 

Suppose  when  a  man  goes  to  make  a  violin  you  follow 
him,  saying,  "  He  must,  of  course,  have  music  at  every 
step."  When  in  the  forest  he  cuts  the  timber,  you  hear 
the  blows  of  the  axe,  and  the  crash  of  the  falling  tree,  and 
you  say,  "  That  is  what  you  call  a  musical  instrument,  is 
it  ?  "  Yes,  that  is  the  beginning  of  it.  And  when  the 
saw  rips  through  the  log,  when  the  plane  glides  over  the 
board,  and  when  the  file  and  rasp  are  brought  to  bear 
upon  it,  the  sounds  that  greet  your  ear  are  harsh  and  un- 
musical. All  the  processes  by  which  you  make  the  sound- 
ing-board are  accompanied  with  disagreeable  noises.  And 
even  when  it  is  finished,  it  does  not  produce  pleasing 
sounds  till  it  has  been  tuned.  And  have  you  ever  heard 
anything  more  unearthly  than  the  scream  of  a  violin 
string  when  it  is  being  screwed  up  ?  How  it  yells  and 
yelps !  But  when  the  instrument  is  tuned,  a  Paganini 
or  an  Ole  Bull  will  take  it  up,  and  upon  it  discourse  the 
sweetest  music. 

Christ  did  come  for  peace,  but  the  process  of  work- 
ing it  out  is  like  sawing  timber,  or  like  screwing  up  the 
string  of  a  violin.  It  is  not  meant  that  there  shall  be 
peace  till  there  is  a  consummation  of  purity ;  till  an  ad- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  223 

justment  has  taken  place  inside  of  every  man;  till  the  re- 
lations of  men  are  adjusted  to  their  outward  life;  till  men 
are  adjusted  to  their  fellow-men,  and  the  vast  multitude 
are  chorded  for  God's  choral  harmonies.  Therefore  you 
need  not  look  for  peace  right  away.  Peace  is  not  going 
to  dawn  very  soon,  if  there  is  to  be  no  peace  till  there  is 
perfection  in  the  individual. 


IN  a  man's  head  there  is  an  up  and  a  down.  The 
upper  and  the  lower  faculties  reside  there.  And  every 
vote  that  is  taken  in  the  mind  is  carried  by  a  majority  of 
the  ruling  forces  ;  not  by  a  majority  of  the  faculties,  but 
by  a  majority  of  the  ruling  forces.  Just  as  long  as  a 
man  is  not  in  danger  of  changing  from  bad  to  good, 
of  going  from  wrong  to  right,  just  so  long  is  he  allowed 
to  think  and  meditate  as  much  as  he  pleases  about  it. 
And  therefore  the  higher  faculties  of  a  man's  mind  are 
like  prisoners  —  good  men — confined  up  stairs  in  a  great 
castle.  Veneration,  an  admirable  fellow,  walks  up  and 
down  the  apartment,  and  talks  about  the  beauty  of 
worship ;  the  sanctity  of  religion ;  the  nobleness  of 
prostrating  one's  self  before  God.  Imagination,  hearing 
Veneration  preach  in  such  a  beautiful  manner,  gets  up, 
and  begins  to  talk  about  the  glories  of  the  eternal  sphere. 
Yea,  it  flies  thither,  and  sees  the  very  battlements  of 
heaven,  its  pearly  gates,  and  its  walls  of  many  precious 
stones ;  and  in  ecstasy  of  joy,  it  comes  back  with  seraphic 
intelligence  from  that  blessed  abode.  Conscience,  that 
always  sits  like  a  chief-justice  on  the  bench,  pronounc- 
ing judicial  decisions,  talks  about  duty,  about  right  and 
wrong,  and  fills  the  other  prisoners  with  excellent  views 
of  truth  and  rectitude.  Each  one  of  the  higher  faculties 
having  spoken  in  a  way  to  inspire  a  yearning  for  liberty, 


224  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

they  take  a  vote,  and  decide  that  they  will  break  away 
from  their  confinement.  "Agreed,"  says  Veneration, 
"  I  '11  go  " ;  and  Ideality  says,  "  I  '11  go  " ;  and  Con- 
science says,  "  I  '11  go  "  ;  and  Faith  says,  "  I  '11  go  "  ; 
and  Love  says,  "  I  '11  go  " !  Accordingly,  they  all  start, 
and  the  first  thing  they  meet  is  the  bull-dog,  Temper. 
He  says,  "  No,  you  won't " ;  and  Pride,  the  jailer,  says, 
"  No,  you  won't " ;  and  greedy  Avarice,  th.e  sentinel, 
standing  and  pushing  in  double  bolts,  says,  "  No  you 
won't."  And  by  watch-dogs,  and  jailers,  and  sentinels, 
they  are  ignominiously  driven  back  to  their  cell,  to  look 
out  of  the  window,  and  think  again  ! 

How  often  does  a  man,  on  Sunday,  sit  in  the  upper- 
rooms  of  his  mind,  and  think  of  glorious  things  that  he 
means  to  do.  Veneration  is  all  right,  Conscience  is  all 
right,  Hope  is  all  right,  Faith  is  all  right ;  and  they  say, 
"  God,  and  divine  purity,  and  true  manhood,  and  noble- 
ness, —  we  are  for  those  things  :  let  us  try  to-morrow 
to  live  for  them."  To-morrow  comes,  and  the  first  step 
the  man  takes,  "  Bow  wow,"  says  bull-dog,  Bargain,  right 
before  him.  The  next  step  he  takes  he  is  confronted  by 
that  old  tyrant,  Party.  Then  in  succession  he  comes 
upon  Partnership,  Social  Pleasure,  Custom,  ami  Habit. 
Old  Adam,  multiform,  briarean,  crosses  his  path  at  every 
turn.  And  he  does  not  get  a  vote  till  the  top  of  the  head 
and  the  bottom  of  the  head  have  both  voted;  and  the 
bottom  carries  it,  usually. 


NOT  golden  veins  in  mountains,  not  diamonds  in  the 
sands,  nor  precious  stones,  not  treasures  which  are  heaped 
up  in  cities,  nor  the  things  which  minister  to  the  senses  or 
to  bodily  ease  or  comfort,  are  best.  They  are  second  best. 
They  are  useful  if  they  serve  ;  they  are  evil  if  they  rule. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  225 

For  the  world  is  God's  nursery.  Here  He  brings  up  His 
children.  And,  as  in  our  houses  all  things  are  good,  — 
pictures,  books,  carpets,  furniture,  the  table  and  the  couch, 
—  if  they  aid  us  to  rear  well  our  children,  and  are  good 
but  for  that ;  as  our  children  are  themselves  the  chief 
treasures  to  us,  and  their  character  the  chief  part  of  them- 
selves, so  is  it  in  God's  great  household-globe,  on  which 
we  dwell.  We  are  to  despise  nothing  as  if  the  being  tran- 
sient or  physical  were  a  reason  for  contempt.  We  are  to 
treasure  all  things,  —  only  we  are  to  measure  their  value 
by  their  relation  to  our  higher  nature. 


THE  cradle  empty  blesses  us  more  than  the  cradle 
filled.  Therefore  if  I  had  had  my  way,  how  much  leaner 
I  should  have  been  ;  how  much  less  I  should  have  been 
built  up  in  affection ;  how  much  more  deficient  I  should 
have  been  in  faith !  But  against  wish,  and  against  strong 
crying  and  bitter  tears,  God  held  on  His  way,  and  took 
one,  and  two,  and  many  ;  and  I  bless  His  name.  I  am 
not  good,  but  I  am  better.  And  that  which  I  could  not 
see  then,  is  very  plain  to  me  now.  For  each  of  the  tears 
that  dropped  has  become  a  sentence,  and  the  literature 
which  they  form  is  as  the  interpretation  of  the  wisdom  of 
God  in  Hia- administration  in  earthly  things. 


IP  you  go  into  the  great  manufactories  at  Lowell  and 
Lawrence,  that  which  you  see  is  that  which  you  never 
see  elsewhere ;  and  that  which  you  see  elsewhere  is  what 
you  almost  never  see  there.  You  see  there,  not  colors, 
but  dirty  dye-vats;  wool  rather  than  thread,  or  thread 
rather  than  fabrics.  Instead  of  seeing  rolls  of  finished 
carpeting  or  cloth,  you  hear  the  rattling  of  looms,  spin- 
ning-jennies, and  other  machinery.  These  things,  which 
10*  o 


226  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

absorb  your  attention,  you  leave  behind  you,  when  you 
go  out ;  whereas  it  is  in  New  York,  in  London,  in  the 
great  commercial  mart,  that  you  see  the  fabric  which  is 
produced  by  them. 

Now,  this  world  is  a  great  rattling  manufactory,  and  all 
these  physical  things  are  but  the  stationary  engines  and 
looms.  These  are  the  things  that  men  never  carry  wkh 
them  from  this  world.  And  yet,  how  important  they  are  ! 
Our  life,  as  it  were,  is  placed  in  a  loom,  and  woven  by 
these  things.  It  rolls  up,  and  is  hidden  as  fast  as  it  is 
woven  ;  and  it  is  to  be  taken  out  of  the  loom  only  when 
we  leave  this  world.  We  shall  see  the  pattern  of  it  only 
when  we  abandon  the  things  which  act  upon  us  here. 


I  PREACH  the  Gospel  just  as  my  Master  gave  it  to  me. 
He  told  me  that  it  should  be  a  sword,  and  I  am  bound 
that  it  shall  be.  He  said  it  should  be  fire,  and  it  does  set 
men  on  fire.  You  cannot  find  anything  in  the  Gospel  that 
makes  for  peace  when  men  are  wicked.  As  long  as  lies 
are  told,  so  long  every  word  of  Christian  truth  is  an  exe- 
cutioner of  lies,  that  ferrets  them  out  and  visits  summary 
punishment  on  them.  As  long  as  dishonesties  are  rife,  so 
long  every  honesty  of  God's  Word  is  God's  sheriff  sent 
out  to  arrest  them.  As  long  as  there  is  cruelty,  so  long 
every  humanity  of  the  Gospel  is  God's  angel  sent  like 
Gabriel  abroad  to  defend  the  right  and  smite  the  wrong. 
As  long  as  men  are  corrupt,  so  long  the  Gospel  is  God's 
firebrand  to  burn  out  of  them  the  dross,  leaving  but  the 
pure  gold. 

IN  all  the  abysses  of  God's  nature,  in  all  the  infinite  out- 
stretchings  of  His  being,  in  all  that  wondrous  personality 
that  fills  heaven  and  eternity,  in  all  that  incomprehensible 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  227 

magnitude  that  we  call  God,  -what  extraordinary  capacity 
there  must  be  of  loving !  How  strange  must  be  the  con- 
ception of  ail  infinite  God,  higher  than  the  heavens,  and 
broader  than  the  earth,  upon  every  one  of  whose  attri- 
butes, upon  every  one  of  whose  affections,  we  put  the 
term  "infinite,"  —  a  term  expressing  that  which  is  bound- 
less, limitless,  exhaustless ! 


DID  you  ever  see  men  made  in  this  world  ?  They  had 
no  great  wisdom  ;  they  had  no  great  honor ;  they  had 
no  great  heroism  ;  they  had  no  great  patience  ;  they  had 
no  great  meekness;  thej  had  no  great  wealth  of  love. 
But  they  had  a  certain  muck-wisdom  ;  they  knew  how  to 
thrust  their  hand  in  where  dirt  was  to  be  moulded  ;  they 
knew  how  to  amass  property ;  they  knew  how  to  con- 
struct ships  and  houses;  they  had  a  kind  of  ferreting  eye, 
a  sort  of  weasel  sagacity ;  they  were  keen  and  sharp  ; 
they  were  said  to  be  prosperous,  thriving  men ;  they 
were  being  built  up  according  to  the  estimation  of  men. 
Give  a  man  a  thousand  pounds,  and  you  have  laid  the 
foundation  on  which  to  build  him,  —  you  have  got  his 
feet  built ;  give  him  five  thousand,  and  you  have  built  him 
up  to  the  knees ;  give  him  ten  thousand,  and  you  have 
built  him  to  the  loins ;  give  him  twenty  thousand,  and 
you  have  built  him  above  the  heart ;  give  him  fifty  thou- 
sand, and  he  is  made  all  over.  Fifty  thousand  pounds 
will  build  a  man  in  this  world.  One  hundred  thousand 
makes  a  splendid  fellow,  as  the  world  goes.  The  great 
trouble,  however,  is,  that  although  the  materials  may  not 
be  very  costly  as  God  looks  upon  them,  men  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  build  themselves  in  this  way.  Besides  they  are 
very  easily  unbuilt.  Where  a  man  is  merely  what  he 
owns,  it  does  not  take  long  to  annihilate  him.  There  are 


228  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

thousands  and  thousands  of  men  of  whom  if  you  take 
away  their  houses,  and  ships,  and  lands,  and  fiscal  skill, 
and  such  other  qualities  belonging  to  them  as  they  will 
not  want  in  heaven,  and  cannot  carry  to  heaven,  there  will 
not  be  enough  left  to  represent  them  there,  of  righteous- 
ness, and  godliness,  and  faith,  and  love,  and  patience, 
and  meekness,  and  such  like  qualities.  They  have  used 
all  these  qualities  up  for  fuel  for  their  machine.  It  has 
been  their  business  in  life  to  sacrifice  probity  that  they 
might  be  rich  ;  that  they  might  gain  power  and  influence  ; 
that  they  might  make  their  hold  on  this  world  broader 
and  stronger.  And  if  they  cannot  carry  forth  these 
things,  which  have  been  the  objects  to  the  attainment  of 
which  they  have  devoted  all  their  energies,  what  is  left 
for  them  to  go  out  of  life  with  ?  Yon  see  not  only  single 
specimens,  but  whole  ranks  of  these  dwarfed,  insect  class 
of  men,  patting  each  other  on  the  shoulder,  registering 
each  other,  weighing  each  other,  and  speaking  of  each 
other  as  "  our  first  men,"  "  our  largest  men,"  "  our  influen- 
tial men,"  "our  strong  men"  ;  and  yet,  if  you  were  to  take 
away  from  them  that  of  which  the  grave  will  divest  them, 
you  could  not  find  them,  even  with  a  microscope  ! 


EVIL  is  eternal  in  the  sight  of  God,  unless  it  be 
checked  and  cured.  Sin,  like  a  poisonous  weed,  resows 
itself,  and  becomes  eternal  by  reproduction.  Now  God 
looks  upon  the  human  race  in  the  light  of  these  truths. 
And  tell  me  what  other  attribute  of  God,  what  other  in- 
flexion of  His  character,  is  so  noble  and  sublime  as  this, 
—  His  gentleness  ?  How  wonderful  has  been  its  dura- 
tion ;  how  deep  its  nature ;  how  exquisite  its  touches ; 
how  rich  its  fruit !  What  assurance  does  it  bring  to  our 
hope !  How  boundless  is  the  scope  it  opens  to  our  eye  ! 


AOYAL  TRUTHS.  229 

How  wonderful  is  the  combination  of  traits  in  His  dispo- 
sition !  It  was  because  the  lion  and  the  lamb  first  lay 
down  together  in  the  heart  of  God,  that  the  prophet  de- 
clared that  they  should  yet  do  it  on  earth ! 


HE  who  unites  himself  to  any  great  idea  or  truth  which 
God  has  established,  may  be  sure  that  he  will  go  forth 
from  conquering  to  conquer  ;  not  by  reason  of  any  might 
or  skill  in  himself,  but  because  he  is  united  to  God,  and 
is  a  laborer  together  with  Him.  The  man  that  adopts 
any  divinely-appointed  truth,  no  matter  what  the  world 
thinks  of  it,  rides  in  God's  chariot,  and  has  God  for  his 
charioteer.  No  man  rides  so  high,  and  in  such  good 
company,  as  the  man  that  allies  himself  to  a  truth  that 
God  loves  and  men  hate.  Where  a  thing  is  true,  and 
just,  and  pure,  and  noble,  and  right,  let  law  say  what  it 
pleases,  let  institutions  say  what  they  please,  let  men  say 
what  they  please,  let  the  world  say  what  it  pleases,  do 
you  cast  yourself  into  that  thing  without  heed,  without 
calculation,  without  fear,  and  you  will  be  in  the  hollow 
of  the  hand  of  God  Almighty,  and  will  be  on  the  sure 
road  to  victory,  since  He  himself  is  the  all-victorious 
One. 


I  THINK  the  most  piteous  thing  in  this  world  is  never 
written.  I  have  read  many  a  poem,  and  novel,  and  tale, 
that  made  me  cry,  —  and  whether  they  were  true  or  not, 
it  was  all  the  same  ;  but  of  all  affecting  poems  and  novels 
and  tales,  I  think  life  itself  is  the  most  affecting,  —  com- 
mon life,  just  as  it  turns  out  in  the  world.  And  when  I 
go  out  to  measure  men,  I  say  to  myself,  as  one  after  an- 
other they  pass  before  me,  "  Suppose  that  man  should 
drop  out  of  life,  what  would  become  of  him  ?  "  It  pains 


230  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

me  to  see  how  worthless  men  are,  —  to  see  how  men 
stand  in  life,  and  what  they  are.  I  am  sometimes  called 
to  perform  the  burial-service  over  men  of  whom  I  could 
not  say  a  word,  and  of  whom,  if  I  had  expressed  what  I 
felt,  I  should  have  said,  "  I  bless  God  that  he  is  gone. 
The  world  is  better  off  for  his  having  been  taken  out  of 
it."  Look  at  human  life,  break  through  all  the  sentimen- 
tal ways  of  society,  weigh  men  as  you  weigh  gold,  un- 
mixed with  dirt  or  quartz  or  any  other  substance,  take 
men  up  and  see  how  much  there  is  of  them  that  really 
answers  the  end  of  the  life  to  come,  and  how  many  there 
are  that,  dying,  would  not  be  missed.  How  few  there 
are  that,  dying,  would  make  the  community  feel  poor! 
How  few  there  are  that,  being  dead,  would  yet  speak ! 


WITHOUT  fault  of  their  own,  persons  of  other  countries, 
being  driven  from  their  homes  by  revolutions,  flee  to 
Britain  or  America.  They  were  educated  to  be  gentle- 
men, in  their  own  lands  ;  and  being  born  noblemen,  they 
had  some  seeming  right  to  be  educated  as  gentlemen,  — 
that  is,  to  live  a  lazy  life,  and  have  others  support  them. 
But  driven  forth  from  their  seeming  fate,  how  can  they 
subsist?  They  cannot  teach,  for  they  cannot  speak  the 
language.  They  cannot  work,  for  they  have  learned  no 
trade.  They  have  only  learned  to  open  their  mouth  and 
take  the  food  ready  to  drop  into  it.  Of  all  miserable 
men,  I  think  they  are  the  most  miserable  who  have  been 
educated  intellectually,  and  who  have  fine  tastes  and 
strong  emotive  powers,  but  who  have  no  sort  of  ability 
to  get  along  when  they  are  thrown  out  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  were  educated,  and  are  obliged, 
under  new  circumstances,  to  shift  for  themselves.  I  have 
seen  very  many  such  men,  —  men  built  exquisitely  for 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  231 

mortification  and  suffering,  and  apparently  for  nothing 
else.  But  how  dreadful,  compared  with  the  misadjust- 
ment  of  these  men,  is  that  of  those  who,  having  striven  to 
make  themselves  something  in  this  life,  die  and  go  into 
the  other  life  to  find  that  they,  do  not  know  its  business  ; 
that  they  cannot  speak  its  language ;  that  they  have  no 
faculties  educated  which  have  respect  to  their  relations 
there ;  that  those  faculties  which  they  have  educated 
have  no  function  there  ;  and  that  those  which  they  need 
to  use  there,  have  not  been  trained !  Such  men  will  stand 
fools  and  foolish  forever !  The  life  that  is  substantial  they 
have  thrown  away.  Their  education,  instead  of  being  for 
the  other  life,  has  been  for  this  life  alone. 


GOD  will  never  receive  us  upon  any  invoice  sent  from 
this  world.  Every  man  is  to  be  reappraised,  unpacked, 
examined,  mostly  thrown  away  ;  and  that  which  is  least 
esteemed  here  is  to  be  measured  most  and  judged  most, 
and  the  reverse ;  so  that  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the 
first  .shall  be  last.  The  ten  thousand  who  go  without  a 
procession  to  the  grave,  whom  no  man  knows  to  have 
died  and  no  man  misses,  have  their  procession  on  the 
other  side,  and  armies  in  triumph  shout  them  home ; 
while  men  who  are  followed  to  the  grave  by  a  long  pro- 
cession, who  are  buried  with  much  state,  and  who  fill 
the  world  for  a  time  with  the  sound  of  their  fall,  are  re- 
ceived on  the  other  side  silently  and  without  procession. 
And  happy  is  it  for  them  if"  they  do  not  rise  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt. 


IF  a  man  is  righteous  and  godly,  if  a  man's  life  consists 
in  soul-treasure,  no  matter  what  may  befall  him,  his 
nature  cannot  be  touched ;  it  will  ever  shine  on.  If  he 


232  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

is  deprived  of  his  worldly  surroundings,  it  is  all  the  more 
affecting  and  influential.  When  a  truly  great  man  has 
these  tilings  taken  away  from  him,  it  is  as  when  a 
cocoa-nut  has  the  rind  taken  off;  it  is  as  when  a  grain 
has  the  husk  taken  off.  Take  a  man  who  is  good  and 
noble  and  true,  and  remove  from  him  everything  through 
which  he  has  stood  and  glowed  and  radiated,  and  men 
will  bow  down  to  him,  and  say,  "  That  is  virtue  !  That 
is  godliness  !  That  is  God  in  the  soul .!"  And  the  man 
will  be  more  known,  more  felt,  more  revered,  when  stand- 
ing merely  in  his  own  intrinsic  wealth,  than  when  clothed 
with  the  trappings  of  this  world. 


THE  whole  globe,  it  seems  to  me,  is  a  sacrament ;  and 
time  is  full  of  the  most  solemn  lessons  and  the  most  mo- 
mentous truths.  And  yet  we  let  day  after  day  and  year 
after  year  pass  over  our  head,  and  our  constant  thought 
is,  —  what  ?  That  the  winter  is  severe ;  that  the  day  is 
inclement ;  that  the  rain  incommodes  our  party,  or  mars 
our  pleasure.  We  sit  and  judge  of  the  various  events  of 
the  seasons  with  reference  to  our  selfish  convenience. 
We  fret,  and  fume,  and  complain  of  God's  phenomena, 
judging  them  by  our  wishes,  and .  without  thanksgiving, 
or  admiration,  or  gratitude,  or  reverence,  but  full  of  spite 
and  peevishness  and  ill-feeling. 


MEN  are  seeking  for  only  this  life.  A  short  life  it  is, 
and  exceedingly  imperfect  "and  rudimentary,  at  best.  It 
is  like  a  road,  which  is  good  for  travelling,  but  poor  for 
sleeping.  This  world  is  magnificent  for  strangers  and 
pilgrims,  but  miserable  for  residents.  The  very  moment 
a  man  carries  himself  as  though  this  were  his  home,  and 
begins  to  build  as  though  he  would  live  here,  that  moment 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  233 

the  world  is  not  a  fit  place  for  a  temporary  residence  for 
him.  It  is  only  when  a  man  considers  this  world  as  a 
school-house,  and  not  a  dwelling,  that  it  will  serve  the 
purpose  it  was  intended  to  serve.  The  academy  is  not  a 
place  to  live  in.  We  go  into  it  that  in  due  time  we  may 
come  out  prepared  for  a  higher  sphere.  What  the  anvil 
and  the  blacksmith-shop  are  to  the  sword  of  the  warrior, 
that  this  world  and  its  instrumentalities  are  to  us.  We 
are  forged  here  to  .be  used  hereafter.  We  are  to  receive 
our  perfected  selves,  and  to  come  to  the  fruition  of  our- 
selves, only  when  God  shall  open  the  door  of  this  world, 
and  let  us  out.  We  are  like  a  ship  that,  being  built,  lies 
high  and  dry,  and  whose  sea-going  qualities  cannot  be 
known  till  she  is  launched  upon  the  ocean.  We  do  not 
know  our  own  powers.  When  at  death  we  are  launched 
upon  the  sea  of  eternal  life,  then  we  shall  know  what  we 
are. 


Do  you  not  know  that  the  Devil  never  makes  a  rout  in 
a  man's  heart  so  long  as  he  bears  undisputed  sway  there  ? 
It  is  only  when  it  is  attempted  to  throw  him  out,  that  he 
shows  the  man  how  strong  a  hold  he  has  upon  him.  He 
lets  him  talk,  and  say,  "I  can  rid  myself  of  this  habit 
whenever  I  please,"  and  such  like  things.  It  rather 
pleases  him  to  have  him  talk  so.  But  when  he  under- 
takes to  rid  himself  of  the  habit,  he  lets  him  know  that 
he  cannot  do  it  so  easily  as  he  supposed. 


"  WHO  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  upon  the  hope 
set  before  us,  which  hope  we  have  as  an  anchor."  These 
figures  do  not  succeed  each  other,  but  they  intermingle. 
It  may  be  a  violation  of  rhetorical  rules,  but  it  is  the  ful- 
filment of  a  rich  imagination  thus  to  commingle  figures  ; 


234  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

for  no  one  who  is  apt  to  see  thiugs  in  symbols  and  by 
pictures,  but  knows  that  for  the  same  thought  there  will 
often  arise  several  distinct  figures  striving  to  represent  it, 
and  that  the  mind  will,  in  its  more  fervid  moods,  take  both 
figures  or  many  of  them  in  part.  A  fervid  imagination 
uses  figures  just  as  freely  as  words,  and  as  we  often  change 
words  or  inflect  a  sentence  from  the  very  overflow  of  feel- 
ing as  the  progress  of  thought  develops  in  our  mind,  so  is 
it  with  figures  and  illustrations.  In  this  case  I  think  there 
is  a  sublime  unity  in  these  figures  that  is  not  often  seen. 
It  is  as  if  the  apostle  had  seen  the  soul  beset  with  great 
troubles  like  storms.  Doubts  and  temptations  fill  the  air 
black  ;  the  poor  driven  soul  flies  for  shelter,  the  very  wind 
drives  it;  the  peril  of  the  elements  and  their  terrible 
threat  speed  it  to  some  covert,  and  so  it  makes  for  the 
refuge.  And  then,  in  the  universality  of  his  imagination, 
the  apostle  sees  the  storm  not  alone  upon  the  land,  but 
upon  the  sea ;  the  mariners  are  swept  with  the  wind  and 
dashed  with  the  overwhelming  waves,  and  for  his  peril 
the  anchor  is  the  refuge.  The  storm  is  common  to  both 
figures :  the  refuge  is  for  the  land,  the  anchor  for  the  sea ; 
and  both  of  them  mean  one  thing,  —  security.  For  what 
a  strong  house  is  in  the  one  sphere,  that  a  sure  and  stead- 
fast anchor  is  in  the  other. 


WHAT  strange  creatures  men  are !  They  bow  down 
and  bend  under  God's  mysterious  dealings ;  and  when 
they  find  their  hands  empty,  their  hearts  full,  their  plans 
frustrated,  their  wishes  crossed,  and  their  life  burdensome, 
they  go  mourning  and  wondering  why  it  should  be  so ; 
and  then  they  go  back  to  the  household  and  pursue  upon 
their  sons  and  daughters  the  same  policy  that  has  been 
pursued  upon  them,  and  marvel  that  the  little  child  can- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  235 

not  understand  that  it  is  for  its  good  that  it  is  denied 
things  that  it  desires,  and  that  it  has  put  upon  it  things 
that  it  dislikes ;  and  why  it  cannot  understand  that  life  is 
a  unit,  and  that  its  welfare  in  the  future  depends  upon  its 
right  management  in  the  present !  They  reproduce  in 
their  dealings  with  their  children  God's  dealings  with 
them,  and  are  yet  forever  wondering  why  God  deals 
with  them  as  He  does,  and  why  their  children  do  not  un- 
derstand that  their  administration  over  them  is  beneficial 
and  wise ! 


THE  nature  of  a  seed  is  such  that  when  it  is  thrown 
into  the  ground  it  unfolds  itself  without  culture,  without 
any  exterior  influence  beyond  the  light  and  air  and  soil, 
to  be  just  that  thing  which  it  was  meant  to  be.  Every 
flower  comes  to  its  own  nature ;  and  although  culture 
may  make  it  larger  and  finer,  yet  it  expresses  the  radical 
idea  involved  in  the  seed.  It  is  so  with  every  insect,  and 
every  animal.  But  man  is  not  a  creature  that,  according 
to  this  analogy,  being  born  into  the  world  opens  and 
develops  himself  to  that  which  God  meant  manhood  to 
be.  "When  left  in  the  most  favorable  conditions,  man 
does  not,  and  will  not,  so  develop  himself;  for  that  which 
is  required  to  make  manhood  is  not  in  him.  There  were 
elements  left  out  of  the  nature  of  man  without  which  that 
nature  never  can  come  to  its  perfection.  For,  as  in  fruits 
sugar  comes  from  the  sun,  so  in  man  grace  comes  from 
the  Sun  of  righteousness,  working  in  us,  and  elaborating 
the  things  that  we  need.  But  they  are  never  wrought 
out  by  any  process  that  takes  place  by  the  natural  facul- 
ties in  the  soul. 


As  in  a  piano  two  chords  are  united  to  make  one  sound, 


236  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  they  both  respond  to  one  stroke  of  the  hammer,  so  in 
Christ  His  own  will  and  the  will  of  His  Father  were 
united  to  make  one  parallel  motive,  and  they  both  re- 
sponded to  the  action  of  one  nature.  There  was  no  dis- 
tinction between  them.  To  please,  to  honor,  to  expound 
and  declare,  to  serve,  to  love  His  Father,  was  that  which 
gave  Him  rest  and  comfort.  Without  this  meat  of  doing 
the  will  of  the  Father,  His  life  would  have  been  empty, 
and  His  soul  forever  hungry. 


IT  is  a  noble  view,  this,  to  take  of  Christ's  life, — 
namely,  that  it  was  spontaneous  ;  that  it  had  calm  zeal 
and  the  willingness  of  enthusiasm.  It  was  not  borne  as 
a  load ;  it  was  performed  as  a  joy.  "  "Who  for  the  joy 
that  was  set  before  him  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame."  I  know  that  Christ  is  predicted  as  a  man  of 
sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief;  yet  it  is  the  very 
wonder  and  mystery,  that  up  through  every  sorrow  His 
heart  sent  such  a  flame  of  love  and  joy  that  affliction  be- 
came the  very  fuel  of  gladness.  I  think  that  our  views 
of  the  Saviour  are  perfectly  destructive  to  all  respect 
even.  I  think  the  painters'  ideas  of  Christ,  as  repre- 
sented in  material  suffering,  are  simply  vulgar  and  infer- 
nal ;  and  if  I  had  the  power  I  would  take  every  one  of 
those  disgracing  canvases  and  rip  them  and  burn  them, 
that  make  such  a  masquerade  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  in 
His  suffering  state.  For  do  we  not  know  that  there  are 
in  our  own  houses  children  who,  for  their  father's  sake, 
will  bear  suffering,  and  not  shed  a  tear?  and  are  they 
more  than  Christ?  Are  there  not  parents  and  compan- 
ions that  will  carry  troubles  vehement,  for  the  sake  of 
those  round  about  them,  and  make  them  so  luminous  that 
none  shall  see  them  ?  And  is  it  not  woman's  peculiar 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  237 

office  to  walk  a  martyr,  and  yet  wear  a  face  of  joy  and 
hope  and  radiancy,  so  much  does  her  affection  overcome 
and  quite  subdue  material  suffering  and  lower  forms  of 
disappointment  ?  And  how  many  men  carry  a  world  of 
trouble  for  the  sake  of  their  country  and  their  fellow-men, 
and  yet  stand  prophets  of  peace  and  joy  themselves  ! 
How  many  confessors  and  martyrs  have  borne  inexpres- 
sible torments  for  the  sake  of  truth,  singing  while  the 
flame  itself  was  scorching  their  flesh,  their  soul  beating 
down  the  nerve  and  overcoming  the  body,  and  making 
them  triumphant  over  physical  and  mental  suffering  by 
the  power  of  higher  feelings  which  quite  adumbrated  and 
put  out  the  lower  ones !  And  must  we  conceive  of  Christ 
as  one  who  crouched  under  suffering  ?  Was  He  the  only 
one  that  did  not  know  how  to  make  clouds  carry  colors ; 
or  all  of  whose  clouds  were  lead-color  or  black  ?  Was 
He  one  who  bore  suffering  with  weakness  ?  Was  He  one 
that  was  overcome  and  cast  down  by  suffering  ?  No,  the 
glory  of  Christ  was  this :  that  He  accepted  His  mission 
with  such  cheerfulness  and  gladness  and  enthusiasm  ;  that 
He  did  the  will  of  God  with  such  alacrity ;  that  though 
He  was  pre-eminently,  and  above  all  that  ever  lived,  a 
man  of  suffering,  yet  He  counted  it  a  joy  to  suffer;  that 
He  was  an  overmastering  sufferer. 


THAT  Christ  loved,  longed  for  the  personal  presence  of 
His  disciples,  was  very  patient  with  their  rudeness,  ran  to 
their  help  with  more  love,  when  they  fell  into  sin,  than 
before,  pitied  and  excused  their  infirmities ;  that  Christ 
mourned  over  those  whom  He  condemned,  and  sadly 
denounced  Jerusalem,  amid  tears;  that  He  loved  birds, 
flowers,  children ;  that  He  loved  to  sit  at  twilight  under 
the  olive-trees  on  the  mountain  over  against  Jerusalem, 


238  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  commune  with  His  followers  of  the  day's  experience ; 
that  He  loved  the  solitude  of  the  mountain,  and  prayed 
through  the  night ;  that  He  would  gently  steal  upon  the 
evening  walk  to  Emmaus,  and  talk  like  a  stranger  to 
those  whom  He  entirely  knew,  and  hesitate  at  the  door, 
to  draw  forth  a  more  earnest  welcome,  —  in  short,  if  these 
ten  thousand  shades  of  thought,  and  feeling,  and  conduct, 
that  give  individuality  and  personality  to  Christ,  also  in- 
terpret the  disposition  of  God,  how  near  do  they  bring 
Him  to  our  tastes,  our  affections,  our  imaginations,  and 
our  reason  !  I  love  to  carry  every  act  of  Christ  right 
home  to  Him  as  very  God ;  and  to  say,  This  tells  me 
how  God  feels,  and  what  He  is,  for  it  is  God  himself! 


THERE  are  two  ways  in  which  the  word  nature  unfor- 
tunately is  employed.  One  represents  the  characteristic 
use  which  we  make  of  ourselves.  That  we  call  nature  ; 
but  only  when  the  word  is  used  in  its  perverted  sense. 
A  man's  nature  is  spoiled  in  that  sense.  But  there  is  a 
higher  and  prior  use  of  the  word,  —  namely,  that  which 
represents  the  soul  and  the  faculties  as  God  created  them, 
and  meant  that  they  should  be.  Now,  I  hold  that  the 
original  nature  of  man  was  to  love  God  and  serve  Him ; 
that  that  is  the  secret  of  harmony  in  the  soul ;  that  any 
othjer  theory  by  which  you  attempt  to  reconcile  man  to 
himself  on  earth  will  fail ;  and  that  the  only  way  fof  a 
man  to  have  the  full  possession  of  the  powers  and  forces 
of  life,  is  that  in  which  he  is  most  addicted  to  love  and 
trust  in  God. 


THE  faculty  of  veneration  is  itself  to  be  educated  into 
Christ,  and  every  one  of  its  offices  is  to  be  made  Chris- 
tian. For,  according  to  the.  law  of  Nature,  fear  and 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  239 

dread  are  the  handmaids  of  worship.  Worship  should 
be  festive ;  but  ever  since  the  ascetic  element  entered  it, 
it  has  been  the  darkest  and  most  dreaded  thing  possible. 
Men  have  symbolized  it  in  their  churches.  Stone  above, 
stone  below,  and  stone  on  either  hand !  Darkness  in  the 
roof,  and  darkness  in  the  window !  Churches  have  been 
crypts.  It  would  seem  as  though  men  had  drawn  their 
conceptions  of  the  sanctuary  from  the  places  of  worship 
of  the  earlier  Christians  who  were  forced  to  worship 
under  ground.  *  Cathedrals  and  churches  have  been  dimly 
lighted  ;  and  the  little  light  that. has  come  into  them  has 
come  through  paint  and  ground  glass,  in  a  way  that  has 
misinterpreted  God's  sunlight.  And  men  have  entered 
them  shuddering,  and  on  tiptoe,  as  if  the  presence  of 
God  was  to  be  dreaded ;  have  bowed  down  as  if  to  wor- 
ship Him  was  the  most  terrible  thing  in  the  world ;  have 
risen  up  scarcely  daring  to  whisper ;  and  have  hurried 
out  as  if  they  had  been  disembodied  spirits,  rather  than 
warm-hearted  men  of  flesh  and  blood.  The  conception 
of  worship  has  been  sombre  and  dark.  It  has  been 
heathen ;  for  the  conception  of  worship  in  Christ's  time 
was  as  light  as  the  canopy  of  heaven.  A  most  noble 
doctrine  of  Christian  life  was  that  which  the  Saviour 
taught  when  He  declared  that  whatever  proceeded  from 
any  heart  Godward,  was  true  worship ;  and  that  not  in 
Jerusalem,  nor  in  the  mountain  of  Samaria,  nor  in  any  one 
place,  but  wherever  a  heart  went  out  to  God,  was  accept- 
able worship.  In  that  great  teaching  Christ  showed  us 
that  worship  is  to  be  Christianized.  We  are  in  the 
bondage  of  old  superstition,  and  the  worship  of  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  churches  in  a  thousand  is  yet  tinged 
with  the  sombreness  illustrative  of  the  heathen  element 
of  fear.  The  lightness,  the  gayety,  the  cheer  of  true  wor- 


240  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

ship,  is  but  little  known  among  men.  What  the  hilarity 
of  children  is,  breaking  away  from  masters  aud  schools, 
and  romping  home  to  overpower  the  household  with  joy, 
such  is  to  be  the  worship  of  God's  children.  The  name 
of  Father  ought  not  to  make  any  man  tremble  that  is  a 
child. 


SOMETIMES,  in  dark  caves,  men  have  gone  to  the  edge 
of  unspeaking  precipices,  and,  wondering  what  was  the 
depth,  have  cast  down  fragments  of  rock,  and  listened  for 
the  report  of  their  fall,  that  they  might  judge  how  deep 
that  blackness  was  ;  and  listening  !  —  still  listening  !  — 
no  sound  returns !  no  sullen  splash,  no  clinking  stroke  as 
of  rock  against  rock,  —  nothing  but  silence,  utter  silence  ! 
And  so  I  stand  upon  the  precipice  of  life.  I  sound  the 
depths  of  the  other  world  with  curious  inquiries.  But 
from  it  comes  no  echo,  and  no  answer  to  my  questions. 
No  analogies  can  grapple  and  bring  up  from  the  depths 
of  the  darkness  of  the  lost  world  the  probable  truths. 
No  philosophy  has  line  and  plummet  long  enough  to 
sound  the  depths.  There  remains  for  us  only  the  few 
authoritative  and  solemn  words  of  God.  These  declare 
that  the  "bliss  of  the  righteous  is  everlasting;  and  with 
equal  directness  and  simplicity  they  declare  that  the 
doom  of  the  wicked  is  everlasting. 

The  incorrigibly  wicked,  the  deliberately  impenitent, 
have  nothing  to  hope  in  the  future,  if  they  set  aside  the 
light  and  the  glory  that  shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Clirist. 
And  therefore  it  is  that  I  make  haste,  with  an  inconceiv- 
able ardor,  to  persuade  you  to  be  reconciled  to  your  God. 
I  hold  up  before  you  that  God  who  loves  the  sinners  and 
abhors  sin  ;  who  loves  goodness  with  infinite  fervor,  and 
breathes  it  upon  those  who  put  their  trust  in  Him ;  who 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  241 

makes  all  the  elements  His  ministering  servants  ;  who 
sends  years,  and  weeks,  and  days,  and  hours,  all  radiant 
with  benefaction,  and,  if  we  would  but  hear  their  voice, 
all  pleading  the  goodness  of  God  as  an  argument  of  re- 
pentance and  of  obedience.  And  remember  that  it  is  this 
God  who  yet  declares  that  He  will  at  last  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty. 

WE  must  not  confound  devotion  with  piety.  The  one 
is  the  means :  the  other  is  the  result.  The  one  is  the 
fire  :  the  other  is  the  food  which  it  cooks.  Devotion  is 
merely  a  method  by  which  you  attempt  to  enkindle  in 
yourselves  spiritual  life.  It  is  not  piety ;  it  is  the  instru- 
ment of  it  A  man  may  read  his  Bible,  the  Prayer-book, 
and  devout  treatises,  and  give  much  time  and  attention 
to  religious  services,  and  yet  be  far  from  piety ;  just  as  a 
man  may  whirl  a  millstone  and  have  no  grain,  no  flour. 
And  there  are  many  persons  that  run  the  mill  of  piety, 
who  grind  nothing  but  bran,  who  certainly  grind  very 
little  flour  for  the  bread  of  life.  There  is  a  hundred  times 
more  devotion  than  piety  in  the  world.  Many  men  pray 
not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  being  better,  as  to  furnish  a 
substitute  for  not  being  better.  They  are  not  honest,  they 
are  not  truthful,  they  are  not  noble,  they  are  not  loving, 
they  are  not  disinterested,  they  are  not  ingenuous,  and 
they  know  it,  and  they  pray  hoping  that  their  prayers 
will  be  put  against  thejr  deficiencies.  They  are  conscious 
of  doing  wrong,  and  they  have  an  idea  that  they  can  make 
amends  for  it  by  praying.  They  seem  to  think  that  if 
they  praise  God  a  good  deal,  and  tell  Him  what  they 
think  of  Him  and  of  His  government  a  good  deal,  and  all 
that,  He  will  accept  their  devotion  as  an  equivalent  for 
right  conduct.  Now,  the  only  earthly  object  of  devotion 
11  p 


242  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

is  that  it  may  afford  means,  instrumentalities,  fuel,  to  en- 
enkindle  in  men  a  true  spiritual  life.  The  life  is  some- 
thing separate  from  the  cause  that  produces  it. 


IT  is  no  virtue  to  be  patient  down  hill;  but  to  be 
patient  up  hill  is  some  virtue.  In  being  patient  with  an 
angel,  in  being  patient  with  a  saint,  in  being  patient  with 
a  model  nature, — in  that,  there  is  no  credit;  but  in  being 
patient  with  a  man  that  is  hard,  and  arrogant,  and  con- 
temptuous, and  that  carries  himself  loftily,  so  that  his 
very  look  and  gesture  are  an  insult  to  you,  there  is  some 
credit. 

Why  to  tell  a  nurse  that  she  must  be  patient  with  her 
sick  ones,  and  yet  excuse  her  from  being  patient  with 
those  that  have  the  dropsy ;  with  those  that  have  fevers ; 
with  those  that  are  delirious ;  with  those  that  are  weak, 
and  cannot  help  themselves,  —  that  would  be  like  giving 
a  direction  to  be  patient  with  people  in  general,  but 
nobody  in  particular.  But  to  be  patient  with  men,  is  to 
be  patient  with  the  whole  sum  of  human  infirmities,  — 
with  all  weaknesses,  with  all  wants ;  and  with  all  wicked- 
nesses, as  well. 

IT  is  a  period  of  the  world  when  men  should  take 
courage  and  be  glad.  I  thank  God  every  morning  and 
every  night,  and  ten  thousand  times  a  day,  that  He  per- 
mitted me  to  be  born  in  such  an  age  as  this.  Now  a  man 
lives  a  year  in  a  day.  Now  men  are  not  living  in  Jan- 
uary, in  mid-winter,  in  a  frozen  ground  where  the  roots 
can  suck  no  juice,  where  no  leaves  are  playing  in  the 
wind  !  We  are  living  in  the  month  of  May,  when  winter 
is  gone,  when  the  snows  no  longer  cover  deeply  the  earth, 
and  when  birds  are  singing  in  the  air.  There  are  storms, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  243 

to  be  sure,  but,  after  every  thunder-storm,  the  leaves  play, 
the  roots  grow,  and  ten  thousand  influences  are  operating 
to  bring  summer.  Let  us,  then,  be  patient.  Let  us  be 
hopeful.  Let  us  have  faith  in  God.  He  is  very  near  to 
us :  we  know  it  by  the  wrath  of  the  Devil ;  we  know  it 
by  the  way  evil  men  cry  out,  saying,  "  Art  thou  come  to 
torment  us  before  our  time  ?  "  we  know  it  because  some 
are  cast  down  and  are  made  to  wallow,  that  the  Devil 
may  be  driven  out  of  them.  Let  him  go ;  but  let  them 
arise,  clothed,  and  in  their  right  mind,  and  be  found  sit- 
ting at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 

SOME  men  think  of  religion  as  if  it  were,  on  the  whole, 
simply  a  title  to  heaven.  They  love  the  hymn,  "  When 
I  can  read  my  title  clear."  They  understand  deeds,  and 
titles,  and  conveyances.  Their  heavenly  title  seems  to 
them,  in  the  earlier  part  of  their  religious  experience,  to 
be  disputed.  It  is  as  if  the  Devil  were  some  sneaking 
man  seeking  to  invalidate  their  title  to  their  property. 
They  go  into  court,  invalidate  the  claim  of  their  adver- 
sary, and  establish  their  own.  That  is  to  say,  they  are 
awakened,  convicted,  and  converted.  And  now  they  say, 
"  I  have  a  title  to  heaven."  It  is  as  if  a  man  had  a  large 
estate  which  he  was  carrying  on  in  a  certain  way,  and 
for  which  there  had  risen  up  a  claimant,  and  he  went  be- 
fore the  tribunals,  and  there  contested  his  right,  and  got 
a  verdict  in  his  favor,  and  then  returned  home,  and  lived 
on  the  estate  as  before,  without  repairing  the  fences,  with- 
out better  tilling  it,  without  building  new  mansions  upon 
it,  but  allowing  it  to  remain  the  same  old  thistle-grown 
estate  that  it  was  before  ;  the  only  change  being  that  his 
title  to  it  is  confirmed,  so  that  he  can  say,  "  I  own  it." 
There  are  a  great  many  men  to  whom  religion  seems  to 


244  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

be  simply  the  authentication  of  their  title  to  heaven. 
When  they  think  they  have  obtained  it,  they  say  to  them- 
selves, "Now,  whatever  may  befall  the  world,  —  while 
they  have  a  heritage,  perhaps,  of  brimstone  and  fire,  — 
I  am  called,  elected,  sealed,  and  adopted.  I  am  going  to 
heaven ! "  But  their  life  remains  the  same  as  before. 
They  are  no  better,  no  more  honorable,  no  more  truthful, 
no  more  spiritual,  no  more  devout,  no  more  holy. 


WHEN,  after  a  long,  frigid,  barren  winter,  the  spring 
comes  and  loves  the  earth  a  little  while,  how  wondrous  is 
the  change  that  takes  place  !  When  the  month  of  May 
comes  and  sits  upon  the  North  as  a  bird  upon  her  nest, 
there  come  forth  from  under  its  feathers  sounds  of  new 
life  ;  the  forest  echoes  with  the  voices  of  joyous  songsters ; 
the  roots  start;  the  grass  grows;  the  air  smells  sweet; 
all  things  are  full  of  richness  and  beauty.  Just  so  it  is 
when  spring  comes  to  the  soul ;  when  the  heart  is  touched 
with  the  fructifying  power  of  love.  How  instantly,  under 
such  circumstances,  does  there  grow  up  beauty,  and  fit- 
ness, and  satisfaction !  When  it  is  human  heart  that 
touches  human  heart,  what  a  wondrous  spring  it  brings  ! 
what  flowers  and  promises  of  fruit !  But  0,  when  it  is 
the  heart  of  God  that  brings  spring  to  our  hearts ;  when 
it  is  the  heart  of  God  that  sets  every  root,  and  every  bud, 
and  every  leaf  in  us  a-growing,  how  wondrous  is  the 
beauty  that  is  evoked !  how  wondrous  is  the  promise  of 
fruit  that  is  held  out !  And  when  we  have  once  loved 
Christ  with  all  our  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind,  and  strength, 
and  are  able  to  say,  "  To  do  Thy  will  is  my  meat  and  my 
drink,"  we  have  achieved  the  victory ;  we  have  overcome 
all  adversaries ;  we  have  found  the  way  that  is  cast  up, 
on  which  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  are  to  return  and 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  245 

walk,  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads. 
When  we  serve  God  reluctantly,  fitfully,  by  turns,  par- 
tially, we  are  living  a  hard  life,  a  starved  life,  a  wretched 
life ;  but  when  we  are  so  brought  to  Christ  that  we  can 
say,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  we  are  living  an  easy,  a  fed,  a 
happy  life.  The  heart  that  every  day  can  say  "  Father"; 
that  every  day  can  say,  "  I  love  Thee  "  ;  that  every  day 
can  say,  "  Not  my  will,  but  Thine  " ;  that  every  day  can 
say,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  that,  in 
short,  can  say,  "  My  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  — 
the  heart  that  can  say  that  is  able  to  pronounce  the  words 
of  consummation,  the  words  of  victory.  There  is  little 
more  in  life  for  him  to  do  except  to  go  on  as  an  exemplar 
and  laborer  for  God,  waiting  till  the  Divine  call  summons 
him  to  his  glorification  in  heaven. 


CHRISTIAN  brethren,  we  are  advancing  nearer  apd 
nearer,  every  year,  to  the  consummation  of  our  life-work. 
We  are  coming,  every  year,  nearer  and  nearer  to  that 
final  disclosure  when  God  shall  reveal  to  us  what  we  are. 
I  have  sometimes  fancied  what  would  be  the  cause  of 
most  surprise  and  joy  in  the  other  life.  In  some  hours, 
when  higher  moral  feelings  predominate,  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  first  thing  that  will  fill  the  heart  of  men  will  be 
the  vision  of  God,  —  the  vision  of  the  Redeemer.  In 
other  hours,  when  craving  affections  are  strongest,  it 
seems  to  me  that  whatever  may  be  the  glory  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  the  first  things  the  heart  will  recognize  will 
be  its  lost  ones.  At  other  times,  when  high  and  heroic 
purposes  of  life  are  in  the  ascendency,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  sanctified  spirits  of  the  noble  men  that  have  dwelt  upon 
the  earth  —  the  great  assembly  of  the  just  made  perfect 
—  will  first  astonish  and  rejoice  the  heart.  But  I  think, 


246  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

after  all,  that  scarcely  less  than  before  God  himself,  we 
shall  stand  in  utter  surprise  and  wonder  before  ourselves, 
when  what  we  are  is  brought  out ;  when  what  life  has 
made  us  begins  to  be  disclosed ;  when,  standing  in  the 
Divine  presence,  the  soul  seems,  even  in  that  comparison, 
so  noble  and  so  full  of  glory  that  it  is  able  to  say,  "  I  am 
satisfied."  The  glory  that  is  to  be  ours  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear, but  there  are  glimpses  of  it. 


THE  life  of  every  Christian  on  earth  has  much  in  it 
that  is  mysterious  ;  for  it  is  aiming  at  an  awful  grandeur, 
which  has  never  yet  been  unveiled.  God  carries  in  His 
bosom  the  full  ideal.  We  know  it  not.  We  go  moaning 
after  music.  We  rudely  grope  for  beauty.  We  are  sick 
men  leaning  on  a  staff,  and  walking  slowly  for  convales- 
cence. We  do  not  ^now  the  things  toward  which  we  are 
tending ;  but  God  knows  them.  There  are  few  that 
suppose  their  moanings  or  yearnings  mean  anything,  but 
God.  The  apostle  says,  "  The  Spirit  helpeth  our  infirm- 
ities ;  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we 
ought;  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us 
with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered." 

We  see,  then,  the  meaning  of  those  strange  longings 
and  aspirations  which  so  many  have.  They  are  the  fore- 
workings  in  us  of  that  which  is  to  appear  in  the  heavenly 
estate.  They  are  not  a  mere  vagrant  restlessness.  They 
are  the  yearning  of  the  soul  for  itself.  They  are  the 
homesickness  of  the  heart  for  its  future  home.  They 
are  the  attempt  of  the  child  to  say  "  Father."  We  see, 
too,  the  meaning  of  those  glimpses  and  visions  which  so 
many  have.  John  says,  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be."  We  are  the  sons  of  God,  we  know ;  but 
what  that  means,  we  do  not  know. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  247 

How  unhappy  must  be  a  community  bred  to  the  in- 
evitable meanness  of  slavery.  Men  that  have  such  a 
load  to  carry  may  well  stagger.  Society  built  upon  a 
foundation  of  injustice  cannot  bring  forth  just  men.  Sla- 
very does  not  eat  the  slave  half  as  much  as  it  does  the 
master.  It  is  a  scorpion-whip,  deadly  to  the  hand  that 
wields  it,  as  well  as  to  the  back  that  receives  its  lash. 


A  MAN  that  makes  cloth  cannot  eat  cloth.  A  man  that 
makes  porcelain,  off  which  men  eat,  cannot  eat  porcelain. 
That  which  is  to  hold  men's  food  cannot  satisfy  their  ap- 
petites. It  is  not  your  worldly  avocations,  nor  the  imme- 
diate results  of  your  worldly  avocations,  that  can  satisfy 
you.  There  is  a  great  mistake  made  in  this  regard.  Men 
suppose  that  if  they  rise  early,  and  sit  up  late,  and  give 
themselves  to  right  callings  in  right  ways,  they  ought  to 
be  happy.  No !  your  calling  never  was  meant  to  be  food. 
You  must  have  something  better  than  that  to  feed  upon. 
Suppose  a  man  does  rise  early,  and  sit  up  late,  and  drive 
a  profitable  trade,  and  suppose  that  to  do  it  he  extin- 
guishes taste,  takes  no  pains  to  contemplate  Nature,  re- 
fuses to  walk  where  God  speaks  through  His  works,  cares 
for  the  family  only  in  a  small  way  of  duty,  and  neglects 
to  develop  his  higher  affections,  is  it  to  be  expected  that 
he  can  be  happy  ?  He  means,  he  says,  to  succeed  in  bus- 
iness ;  and  when  he  has  come  to  be  fifty  or  sixty  years  of 
age,  and  has  succeeded  in  business,  he  wonders  that  he 
does  not  enjoy  what  he  has  made.  But  it  is  not  that 
that  can  satisfy  him.  I  think  that  when  men  are  stranded 
on  wealth,  and  left  to  wander  on  its  desolate  shores,  where 
nothing  can  grow,  they  are  among  the  most  pitiable  of  all 
men  in  the  world,  —  and  not  the  less  so  because  they 
have  made  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  a  man's  worldly 
avocation  will  feed  his  soul. 


248  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

MIRTH  is  God's  medicine.  Everybody  ought  to  bathe 
in  it.  Grim  care,  moroseness,  anxiety,  —  all  this  rust  of 
life  ought  to  be  scoured  off  by  the  oil  of  mirth.  It  is 
better  than  emery.  Every  man  ought  to  rub  himself 
with  it.  A  man  without  mirth  is  like  a  wagon  without 
springs,  in  which  one  is  caused  disagreeably  to  jolt  by 
every  pebble  over  which  it  runs.  A  man  with  mirth  is 
like  a  chariot  with  springs,  in  which  one  can  ride  over 
the  roughest  road,  and  scarcely  feel  anything  but  a  pleas- 
ant rocking  motion. 


THEKE  is  no  isolated  thing  known  to  us  in  creation. 
Everything  is  a  part  of  something  else.  Nothing  lives 
except  by  depending  on  some  other  thing.  The  bird  eats 
the  insect;  the  insect  ate  the  leaf;  the  leaf  fed  upon  the 
sap ;  the  sap  came  from  the  ground ;  the  ground  drank 
at  the  cloud's  lips ;  and  so  you  may  push  all  things  back, 
and  find  that  one  stands  on  another.  In  this  arrangement 
of  creation,  we  need  food  for  every  part  of  the  body. 
The  body  was  not  built  so  that  it  should  stay  built,  but 
so  that  it  must  be  rebuilt,  in  part  at  least,  every  single 
day.  The  bone  needs  one  food,  the  hair  another,  the 
nerve  another,  and  the  muscle  another.  And,  in  analogy 
with  this,  the  mind,  just  as  much,  demands  stimulus  and 
occupation  that  shall  give  to  it  the  nourishment  and  vi- 
tality which  food  gives  to  the  body.  The  child  feeds 
upon  the  mother  and  the  father.  The  parents'  affections 
wake  up  the  child's,  and  then  feed  them.  The  child's 
thoughts,  too,  are  waked  up  by  those  of  the  parent,  and 
fed  by  them.  The  mind-influence  of  the  parent  stimu- 
lates the  child's  mind,  and  gives  it  fulness  and  satisfaction. 
The  soul  will  not  have  solitariness.  That  is  hunger. 
It  loves  to  dwell  with  those  congenial  to  it.  In  the  ordi- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  249 

nary  and  casual  relations  of  life  this  is  true.  Men  love 
to  travel  in  companies,  and  to  work  in  companies,  simply 
because,  it  is  said,  they  are  social.  But  what  do  you 
mean  by  that,  but  this  :  that  there  is  a  yearning  thought 
which  goes  out  to  the  life  by  which  one  is  built. 

And  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  lower  down  upon 
the  scale  a  nature  stands,  the  less  it  is  developed,  the  less 
it  is  civilized,  the  more  it  seeks  food  for  the  body  and 
from  matter  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  higher  we 
rise  upon  the  scale,  the  more  our  nature  is  educated,  the 
more  characteristically  we  become  men,  the  more  we 
reach  toward  and  touch  the  divine  idea  in  our  creation, 
the  more  do  we  find  that  our  life  and  our  life-food  are 
in  commerce  with  other  natures.  Now,  all  the  while,  this 
nature  is  developing,  and  life  is  educating  it,  that  it  may 
find  its  true  nature  in  feeding  upon  God.  What  we  are 
doing  every  day  is  tending  toward  that  which  we  are  to 
do  when  we  come  to  the  fulness  of  our  being,  and  take 
hold  of  the  soul's  real  end  and  final  supply  —  God.  This 
is  the  final  end  of  every  man.  Plants  do  not  express 
themselves  as  soon  as  they  come  up.  They  grow  to  what 
they  mean,  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  So  do  men.  They 
are  growing  to  their  final  forms.  But  everything  in  life 
is  in  analogy.  Everything  is  tending  upon  each  lower 
to  develop  the  next  higher,  —  upon  matter,  passion ; 
upon  this,  affection  ;  upon  this,  sentiment;  and  upon  this, 
Divine  love. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  declares  Himself  to  be,  and  has 
by  thrice  ten  thousand  believing  ones  been  found  to  be, 
the  soul's  true  food.  That  is,  there  is  not  one  single 
thing  in  a  man's  nature  which,  if  brought  into  commerce 
with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  will  not  find  its  development 
and  satisfaction.  There  is  not  one  element  of  a.  man's 
11* 


250  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

being  that  cannot  be  so  brought  into  connection  wita 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  intellectually  he  shall  be  both 
developed  and  fed. 

Do  you  suppose  Paganini,  who  can  play  on  one  string 
of  the  violin,  could  play  on  one  key  of  an  organ,  which  is 
capable  of  giving  forth  but  one  sound  ?  Even  under  the 
hand  of  Paganini,  one  string  can  be  made  to  discourse 
only  but  poor  music.  But  here  are  men  whose  being  is 
provided  with  forty  strings,  who  have  left  thirty-nine, 
and  go  about  fiddling  on  one  and  wondering  why  they 
do  not  succeed  in  playing  high  harmonies  with  orchestral 
lives.  They  neglect  all  but  one  of  the  many  instruments 
the  use  of  all  of  which  is  necessary  to  the  attainment  of 
happiness,  and  wonder  why  they  are  not  happy. 


IT  is  supposed  that  a  man  ought  to  preach  what  is 
called  practical  truth.  I  think  so  myself.  But  then 
some  truths  are  practical  just  as  a  whip  is  which  has  no 
lash,  and  with  which  you  can  touch  only  a  near  horse. 
Other  truths  are  practical  as  is  the  whip  of  a  stage-driver 
when  driving  a  team  of  four  or  six  horses,  —  a  whip  with 
a  long  lash.  He  has  to  take  a  long  stroke  behind,  and  a 
long  throw  forward,  in  order  to  get  the  crack ;  but  when 
he  has  got  it,  it  is  a  good  one.  Some  truths  are  without 
lashes,  and  are  only  good  to  whip  with  close  by,  and  oth- 
ers are  long-lashed,  and  have  to  be  carried  through  long 
circuits  before  they  can  be  made  to  produce  their  legiti- 
mate effects.  That  is  the  distinction  I  make  between 
preaching  practical  ethics  and  doctrine. 

I  believe,  therefore,  in  doctrinal  preaching.  Doctrinal 
preaching  that  has  no  feet,  and  does  not  know,  when  it 
has  taken  flight,  how  to  get  down  to  the  ground  again ; 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  251 

doctrinal  preaching  that  never  touches  life  :  all  that  gas- 
eous stuff  called  doctrinal  preaching,  —  this  I  heartily 
disbelieve  in.  But  that  doctrinal  preaching  which  is  like 
the  moisture  that  rises  from  the  ocean,  the  lakes,  the 
rivers,  and  the  damp  places,  and  fills  the  upper  sky,  and, 
collecting  in  clouds,  descends  in  the  form  of  rain,  to  give 
seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread  to  the  eater,  I  most  firmly 
believe  in.  I  care  not  how  broad  you  make  the  foun- 
dations of  it,  I  care  not  how  voluminous  you  make  the 
principles  of  it,  I  care  not  how  exact  you  make  the  in- 
tellectual processes  of  it,  so  that  it  is  juicy,  so  that  it  is 
bud-bearing,  so  that  it  yields  fruit,  so  that  it  aims  at  this 
thing  —  the  building  up  of  men  in  human  life. 


I  HOLD  that  a  world  without  a  Sabbath  would  be  like 
a  man  without  a  smile,  like  a  summer  without  flowers,  and 
like  a  homestead  without  a  garden.  It  is  the  joyous  day 
of  the  whole  week.  Men,  however,  feel, "  Why,  I  thought 
the  Sabbath-day  was  holy.  I  was  taught  that  it  was 
wicked  to  laugh  or  whistle  till  after  sundown.  But  now 
I  perceive  that  I  was  wrongly  instructed,  and  that  I  can 
do  what  I  please  without  committing  any  crime." 

You  may  not  break  Sunday,  but  you  may  do  great  mis- 
chief. You  have  no  right  to  take  a  liberty  without  think- 
ing that  there  are  children  around  you,  and  considering 
what  effect  your  example  is  going  to  have  on  them.  You 
are  to  hold  this  liberty  of  the  Sabbath-day  —  if  you  choose 
to  take  it  —  subject  to  this  law  of  edification.  And  I,  for 
one,  cannot  conceive  how  any  Christian  man  can  make 
the  Sabbath-day  a  day  of  secular  pleasure,  instead  of  a 
day  of  religious  improvement. 


"  FOR  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are 


252  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For  as  the  heavens 
are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher  than 
your  ways,  and  my  thoughts  than  your  thoughts." 

What  is  the  teaching  here  ?  It  is  this  :  that  God  does 
not  sit  at  the  North  Pole  in  cold,  iceberg  glory,  saying, 
"  Come  here,  and  I  will  save  you."  He  sits  in  the  very 
bosom  of  tropical  summer,  and  says  to  every  one  that 
wants  to  repent,  "Come  toward  daylight ;  come  toward 
growth ;  come  toward  blossoms ;  come  toward  fruit,  — 
come ;  for  with  royal  power  I  will  draw  you,  and  with 
royal  power  I  will  forgive  you.  Do  not  think  that  I  am 
like  other  potentates :  do  not  think  that  I  am  like  a  venge- 
ful king  that  will  lay  some  severe  penalty  upon  his  sub- 
jects, and  then,  perhaps,  at  last,  accept  their  submission. 
My  thoughts  of  generosity  and  of  magnanimity  are  as 
much  higher  than  those  of  the  noblest  man,  as  the  heav- 
ens are  higher  than  the  earth.  Therefore,  forsake  your 
way  only,  and  return  to  me,  and  you  shall  live." 


"AND  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  on  them,  and  judg- 
ment was  given  unto  them ;  and  I  saw  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the 
word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  worshipped  the  beast, 
neither  his  image,  neither  had  received  his  mark  upon 
their  foreheads  or  on  their  hands,  and  they  lived  and 
reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years." 

This  is  an  account  of  the  resurrection  of  the  witnesses. 
I  do  not  know  what  the  commentators  make  of  it,  but  I 
prefer  to  think  that  the  resurrection  of  the  witnesses  is 
going  on  all  the  time.  We  are  now  beholding  the  resur- 
rection of  men  that  a  thousand  years  ago  laid  down  their 
lives  for  principle.  Nobody  was  capable  then  of  appreci- 
ating the  act  or  giving  it  publicity.  The  Devil  had 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  253 

swept  his  pall  over  the  whole  world ;  but  when  these 
men  had  slept  a  thousand  years  they  were  to  have  resur- 
rection in  this  world.  Old  Cromwell,  —  why,  they  trod 
him  into  the  dust,  and  despised  his  grave.  Even  down 
to  our  day,  they  would  not  let  a  statue  of  him  stand  in 
the  House  of  Parliament,  —  and  he  has  been  made  more 
memorable  by  its  not  being  there  than  he  could  have 
been  by  its  being  there.  It  would  have  been  a  disgrace 
to  the  memory  of  this  heroic  Christian  to  have  placed 
his  monument  in  the  midst  of  those  base  men  who  treated 
with  contempt  his  noble  example.  But  he  has  had  a 
resurrection  in  old  England.  To-day  the  spirit  of  Crom- 
well is  felt  there.  He  is  judging  in  that  country.  It  is 
Cromwell,  and  Cranrner,  and  Latimer,  and  Ridley,  and 
Rogers,  and  Wickliffe,  and  the  other  great  men  of  Eng- 
land that  died  gladly  for  truth,  and  justice,  and  equity, 
and  humanity,  who  are  the  enthroned  sovereigns  that  sit 
now  crowned  in  that  nation.  No  man  shall  eject  them ; 
no  revolution  shall  throw  them  out  of  their  sovereignty. 
Who  rules  in  Florence  to-day  ?  Old  Savonarola.  They 
hung  him,  and  quartered  him,  and  trampled  him  into  the 
dust.  But  God  hid  him,  and  in  these  latter  days  God 
has  said  to  him  at  last,  "  Come  forth,  my  son,  and  wit- 
ness ;  now  thou  shalt  live  and  reign  a  thousand  years  " ; 
and  he  is  coming  forth  to  live  and  reign.  Old  Huss  was 
burned  in  Bohemia.  He  is  not  alive  yet.  He  is  only 
beginning  to  shake  off  the  cerements  o/  the  grave.  But 
he  is  yet  to  come  forth  and  witness  for  the  right,  and  live 
and  reign  a  thousand  years.  All  true  men  away  back  to 
the  days  when  Noah  built  the  ark,  when  patriarchs  be- 
lieved in  God,  when  Daniel,  rather  than  sacrifice  his  con- 
victions, went  to  the  lion's  den  ;  all  the  old  prophets  and 
confessors,  with  Christ  at  their  head  ;  all  the  disciples  and 


254  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

apostles ;  every  martyr  all  the  way  down  to  the  present 
day  that  has  been  slain  for  the  sake  of  principle,  —  these 
are  royally  to  live  again.  It  takes  a  great  while  for  such 
seed  to  come  up,  because  when  it  is  up  it  is  not  going  to 
die.  The  longer  anything  is  to  endure,  the  longer  it  is 
in  being  organized. 

THE  Christian  truly  accepts  God  as  a  father ;  not  as  a 
father  in  the  sense  of  exterior  fatherhood,  but  as  a  father 
of  the  soul.  And  the  Christian  is  united  to  Him,  as  a 
child  is  to  a  parent,  more  by  affection  than  by  mere  ex- 
ternal ties.  For  my  father  is  not  father  to  me  merely 
because  he  is  blood-kindred,  but  a  great  deal  more  be- 
cause he  is  soul-kindred,  to  me.  And  this  is  the  case 
with  the  fatherhood  of  God  to  the  Christian.  It  is  not  in 
a  figurative  sense  that  he  accepts  God  as  his  Father,  but 
in  a  real,  literal  spiritual  sense. 


O,  THE  insignificance  of  most  of  our  lives!  Very 
few  men  are  permitted  to  be  poets ;  very  few  men  are 
permitted  to  be  wise ;  very  few  men  are  permitted  to  be 
eloquent ;  very  few  men  are  qualified  to  be  statesmen. 

A  woman  that  seemed  to  be  endowed  with  everything 
that  was  noble,  and  that  was  calculated  to  fit  one  for  the 
most  emmefcl  service,  was  called,  in  God's  providence,  to 
marry  a  man  that  was  not  her  equal.  She  was  placed  in 
an  obscure  position.  She  was  eclipsed  in  the  household. 
She  could  not  walk  the  saloon.  She  did  not  move  in  the 
midst  of  a  circle  of  admirers.  Her  duties  were  to  stay  at 
home,  to  nourish  the  little  sickly  child,  and  to  serve  her 
stupid  husband.  "While  she  might  have  been  listening  to 
the  chime  of  the  spheres,  while  she  might  have  been 
communing,  one  would  suppose,  with  the  very  Eternal, 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  255 

she  was  occupied  with  rocking  the  cradle,  darning,  knit- 
ting, sewing,  washing,  and  cooking.  She  worked  out  her 
life  in  these  little  insignificant  things  ;  and  sometimes, 
perhaps,  she  thought  to  herself,  "  Woe  is  me  !  To  what 
end  am  I  living  ? "  Her  child  developed  under  her 
care,  and  learned  to  call  her  mother ;  and  when  it  said, 
"  Mother,"  she  thought  God  spoke,  so  sweet  was  its 
voice  to  her.  Now  she  began  to  walk  up  the  golden 
path  of  love.  In  that  child,  born  of  her  sufferings,  and 
reared  by  her  hand ;  in  that  child,  for  whom  she  had 
been  a  vicarious  sufferer  and  saviour,  freely  giving  her 
inward  life,  as  first  she  gave  her  outward  life ;  in  that 
child,  summoned  to  go  forth  as  a  messenger  of  truth,  ap- 
pointed to  do  some  great  work  of  love,  —  in  that  child, 
she  expected  more  than  a  thousand  times  to  reap  her 
reward  for  all  that  she  had  done  and  suffered.  But  her 
hopes  in  him  were  blasted.  Just  as,  after  having  passed 
through  the  glorious  period  of  boyhood,  he  was  touching 
manhood,  in  a  moment  the  wave  closed  over  him,  and  he 
was  gone  forever ;  and  the  labor  of  her  life  was  ended, 
and  she  was  stranded  on  the  shores  of  despair ;  and  she 
cried  out,  "  Why  was  I  born  ?  and  to  what  end  have  I 
lived?" 

A  hundred  had  marked  her  fidelity,  and  she  had  been 
schoolmaster  to  every  one  of  them.  A  hundred  had  wit- 
nessed her  patience,  and  all  the  sermons  they  had  ever 
heard  had  not  preached  such  a  lesson  to  them  as  her  si- 
lent example.  Multitudes  that  had  learned  of  her,  in  turn 
became  teachers  of  others.  Her  influence  spread  wider 
than  she  dreamed.  It  was  not  until  she  had  gone  up  to 
the  end  of  life  in  obscurity,  and  God  had  caused  the  light 
of  eternity  to  shine  on  her  work,  that  she  understood  how 
glorious  little  things  might  be. 


256  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

MANY  m^n  carry  the  promises  of  the  Word  of  God  as 
a  miser  carries  bank  bills,  the  face  of  which  calls  for 
countless  treasures,  but  which  he  does  not  carry  to  the 
bank  for  presentation.  An  ignorant  man  takes  a  hundred- 
pound-note.  He  does  not  know  what  the  stamp  means, 
bat  he  has  been  told  that  it  means  that  the  note  is  worth 
a  hundred  pounds  sterling.  It  is  worth  nothing  at  all  to 
him  unless  it  will  draw  what  it  promises ;  and  the  way  for 
him  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  worth  anything  or  not,  is  to 
take  it  to  the  paying  teller  and  see  if  it  will  draw  the 
money.  It  is  time  to  say  that  there  is  no  money  behind 
it,  when,  on  its  being  presented,  it  is  rejected. 


I  HAVE  sometimes  had  the  misfortune  to  sit  in  concerts 
where  persons  would  chatter  and  giggle  and  laugh  during 
the  performance  of  the  profoundest  passages  of  the  sym- 
phonies of  the  great  artists ;  and  I  never  fail  to  think,  at 
such  times,  "  -I  ask  to  know  neither  you,  nor  your  father 
and  mother,  nor  your  name :  I  know  what  you  are,  by 
the  way  you  conduct  yourself  here,  —  by  the  want  of  sym- 
pathy and  appreciation  which  you  evince  respecting  what 
is  passing  around  you."  "We  could  hardly  help  striking  a 
man  who  should  stand  looking  upon  Niagara  Falls  with- 
out exhibiting  emotions  of  awe  and  admiration.  If  we 
were  to  see  a  man  walk  through  galleries  of  genius,  to- 
tally unimpressed  by  what  he  saw,  we  should  say  to  our- 
selves, "  Let  us  be  rid  of  such  an  unsusceptible  creature 
as  that." 

Now  I  ask  you  to  pass  upon  yourselves  the  same  judg- 
ment. What  do  you  suppose  angels,  that  have  trembled 
and  quivered  with  ecstatic  joy  in  the  presence  of  God, 
think,  when  they  see  how  indifferent  you  are  to  the  Di- 
vine love  and  goodness  in  which  you  are  perpetually 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  257 

bathed,  and  by  which  you  are  blessed  and  sustained  every 
moment  of  your  lives  ?  How  can  they  do  otherwise  than 
•accuse  you  of  monstrous  ingratitude  and  moral  insensibil- 
ity which  betoken  guilt  as  well  as  danger  ? 

THROUGHOUT  the  Bible  it  is  declared  that  the  things 
that  we  are  permitted  to  see  in  this  life  are  but  intima- 
tions, glimpses,  of  what  we  shall  see  hereafter.  "  It  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be."  There  are  times  when 
it  seems  as  though  our  circumstances,  our  nature,  all  the 
processes  of  our  being,  conspired  to  make  us  joyful  here  ; 
yet  the  apostle  says  we  now  see  through  a  glass  darkly. 
What,  then,  must  be  the  vision  which  we  shall  behold 
when  we  go  to  that  abode  where  we  shall  see  face  to  face  ? 
What  a  land  of  glory  have  you  sent  your  babes  into! 
What  a  land  of  delight  have  you  sent  your  children  and 
companions  into !  What  a  land  of  blessedness  are  you 
yourselves  coming  to  by  and  by  !  Men  talk  about  dying 
as  though  it  were  going  toward  a  desolate  place.  All 
the  past  in  a  man's  life  is  down  hill,  and  toward  gloom ; 
and  all  the  future  in  a  man's  life  is  up  hill,  and  toward 
glorious  sunrising.  There  is  but  one  luminous  point,  and 
that  is  the  home  toward  which  we  are  tending,  above  all 
storms,  above  all  sin  and  peril.  Dying  is  glorious  crown- 
ing ;  living  is  yet  toiling.  If  God  be  yours,  all  things 
are  yours.  If  Christ  be  yours,  all  heaven  is  yours.  Live 
while  you  must,  but  yearn  for  the  day  of  consummation, 
when  the  door  shall  be  thrown  open,  and  the  bird  may  fly 
out  of  his  netted  cage,  and  be  heard  singing  in  higher 
spheres,  and  diviner  realms. 


GOD  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men,  though  we  do  not 
see  Him.     God  watches  the  flow  of  daily  life.    He  stands 

Q 


258  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

in  the  market ;  He  walks  in  the  street ;  He  beholds  the 
ways  of  business,  the  paths  of  temptation,  the  lanes  of 
pleasure,  the  sinks  of  evil,  —  in  all  places  where  men  are 
tasked,  and  tried,  and  made  temptable,  there  stands  God 
looking,  taking  account ;  and  not  only  beholding,  but  en- 
couraging, cheering,  and  saying,  if  men  would  but  hear 
His  voice,  "  It  is  always  safe  to  be  right ;  there  is  always 
reward  in  virtue  ;  there  is  always  solid  foundation  in 
righteousness."  Everywhere  the  voice  of  God  to  men 
is,  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteous- 
ness," —  that  is,  seek,  as  the  best  and  highest  end  of  de- 
sire, my  kingdom,  and  my  righteousness,  —  and  it  shall 
take  nothing  from,  but  shall  add  all  things  to  you. 


TRUE  religion  carries  health  and  strength  into  the  souL 
It  regulates  all  things ;  it  subordinates  all  things  to  their 
just  positions ;  it  withdraws  from  men  no  faculty  ;  it  ties 
up  no  power  ;  it  extinguishes  no  instinct ;  it  imprisons  no 
part  of  the  mind,  —  it  directs  and  regulates.  Religion  is 
only  another  word  for  the  right  use  of  a  man's  whole  self, 
instead  of  a  wrong  use  of  himself.  It  puts  men  into  con- 
nection with  God ;  it  brings  them  into  harmonious  rela- 
tions to  their  fellow-men  ;  it  gives  them  direction  for  the 
achievement  of  duty ;  it  opens  to  them  the  coming  world, 
and  inspires  them  with  ardent  desires  for  it;  it  makes 
them  love  whatever  is  good,  and  abhor  whatever  is  bad ; 
it  inspires  reverence,  obedience,  and  love  toward  God  and 
toward  our  superiors  among  men ;  it  inculcates  justice, 
mercy,  and  benevolence  toward  our  fellow-men  ;  it  indues 
us  with  courage,  with  patience,  with  contentment ;  it  com- 
mands industry,  frugality,  and  hospitality  ;  it  enjoins  hon- 
esty, truthfulness,  uprightness,  simplicity,  and  integrity. 
And  that  men,  in  their  ignorance  and  weakness,  may  feel 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  259 

the  importance  of  virtue  and  of  the  truest  piety,  Christ 
reveals  the  immortality  of  man's  nature,  the  glory  of  the 
heavenly  state,  the  sympathy  of  God  with  the  struggles 
of  human  life,  and,  above  all,  sets  before  men,  in  a  perfect 
pattern,  the  example  of  the  life  of  Christ,  who  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are  in  this  earthly  strife, 
and  yet  without  sin,  teaching  us  both  by  precept  and  his 
victorious  career. 


No  man  knows  half  the  fulness  of  his  own  being  until 
inspired  to  a  Christian  life.  If  you  will  walk  with  me  in 
January  over  the  fertile  places  in  the  fields,  and  through 
the  forests,  you  will  see  what  man  is  in  his  natural  state. 
The  earth  is  full  of  roots,  not  one  of  which  knows  how  to 
live.  The  trees  are  full  of  buds,  every  one  of  which  is 
closed  and  bandaged  so  that  it  cannot  expand.  All 
things  are  populous,  but  all  things  are  curdled,  congealed, 
restrained.  Although,  in  his  natural  state,  man  is  full  of 
high,  godlike  powers,  yet  they  are  in  a  condition  of  bond- 
age, and  inactivity ;  and  the  coming  of  religion  to  him  is 
like  the  coming  of  spring  to  the  soil  and  the  forests,  when 
all  things  begin  to  grow.  When  a  man  attains  some 
degree  of  ripeness  in  his  spiritual  nature,  he  may  be 
likened  to  the  fields  and  the  forests  in  midsummer ;  and 
when  he  has  passed  through  life  under  the  stimulating 
influences  of  religion,  he  may  be  likened  to  plants  and 
trees  in  autumn,  when  they  yield  their  fruit  in  exceeding 
abundance,  and  in  a  state  of  perfect  ripeness. 


IT  is  not  what  a  man  gets,  but  what  a  man  is,  that  he 
should  think  of.  He  should  first  think  of  his  character, 
and  then  of  his  condition.  ..He  that  has  character  need 
have  no  fears  about  his  condition.  Character  will  draw 
after  it  condition.  Circumstances  obey  principles. 


260  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

OUR  Master  said,  "  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate, 
for  many  will  seek  to  enter  in,  and  shall  not  be  able." 
For  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  no  man  could  afford  to 
be  damned.  No  man  can  afford  to  lose  immortality  in 
heaven.  No  man  can  afford  to  be  condemned  to  shame, 
and  swept  out  from  the  presence  of  God  with  the  off- 
scouring  of  the  earth. 

THERE  are  times,  I  suppose,  in  which  the  most  zealous 
would,  if  it  were  God's  will,  be  glad  to  die,  —  to  retire 
from  the  battle  of  life,  —  because  they  think  it  will  make 
no  difference  whether  they  live  or  die.  They  have  such 
a  consciousness  of  imperfection,  of  inferiority,  of  unfitness 
in  themselves,  that  they  feel  that  it  could  scarcely  be 
worse,  and  that  it  might  be  much  better,  if  they  were  out 
of  the  world,  and  their  places  were  filled  by  others. 

What  is  a  drop  of  water  of  itself?  What  can  be  more 
harmless  ?  What  is  weaker  ?  What  is  less  potent  for 
any  effect  ?  It  is  mist,  invisible.  It  rises  through  the 
imperceptible  paths  of  the  air,  and  hangs  unseen  in  the 
heavens,  till  the  cold  strikes  it,  and  it  congeals  into 
clouds,  and  falls  in  the  form  of  rain,  perhaps  on  the 
mountain's  top,  and  is  sucked  up  by  the  greedy  earth. 
Still  sinking  through  the  earth,  it  reaches  the  line  of  the 
rocks,  from  whose  sides  it  oozes  out  and  trickles  down, 
when,  finding  other  drops  as  weak  as  itself,  they  unite 
their  forces ;  and  the  sum  of  the  weakness  of  all  these 
drops  goes  to  make  the  rill ;  which  flows  on,  making 
music  as  it  flows,  until  it  meets  counter  streams.  These, 
combined,  form  the  river ;  the  river  forms  the  estuary  ; 
and  the  estuary  the  ocean  itself.  And  now,  when  God 
has  marshalled  the  sum  of  the  weakness  of  myriad  drops 
together,  they  lift  the  mightiest  ship  as  if  it  were  but  a 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  261 

feather,  and  play  with  the  winds  as  if  they  were  mere 
instruments  of  sport.  And  yet,  that  very  drop,  which  a 
man  could  bear  upon  the  end  of  his  finger,  is  there,  and 
has  its  part  and  lot  in  the  might  of  the  whole  vast,  un- 
bounded sea. 

"We  in  our  singleness,  in  our  individuality,  in  our  own 
selves,  are  weaker  than  a  drop  of  water,  and  more  un- 
stable ;  but  as  gathered  together  in  the  great  ocean  of 
life,  as  kept  together  by  the  mighty  currents  which  God's 
providences  make,  we  attain,  working  together  with  Him, 
under  the  inspiration  of  His  Spirit,  to  a  might  that  makes 
life  not  ignoble,  but  sublime.  It  is  most  worthy  of  re- 
mark that  the  things  that  have  called  forth  the  most 
strength  and  endeavor  of  life  have  been  things  that  we 
have  most  utterly  failed  in  doing ;  while  the  things  that 
seem  to  draw  about  themselves  only  the  endeavors  of 
weakness,  have  been  the  things  that  God  has  established 
most. 


I  THINK  that  if  you  will  look  back  upon  the  history 
of  scholarship  for  two  thousand  years,  you  will  find  that 
those  things  to  which  the  pride  of  human  intellect  has 
addressed  itself,  those  things  which  were  expected  to  be 
monuments  of  triumphs  of  thought  by  the  men  that  put 
them  forth,  have  achieved  next  to  nothing.  As  it  is  with 
webs  that  are  destroyed  as  fast  as  spun,  and  that  are  re- 
spun  as  fast  as  destroyed,  so  it  has  been  with  the  scholas- 
ticism of  two  thousand  years.  If  you  look  at  the  efforts 
of  the  most  learned  statesmen,  if  you  look  at  the  most 
laborious  plans  and  the  wisest  endeavors  of  the  chief  men 
of  almost  every  nation,  you  will  find  that  they  have  toiled 
and  labored  to  build  up  things  that  stood  only  while  they 
had  their  hand  upon  them, — and  hardly  as  long  as  that. 


262  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

Laws  have  been  overthrown  almost  before  the  face  of  men 
that  thought  they  had  done  most  curious  and  wonderful 
things  in  the  scale  of  legislation.  Administrations  have 
ceased  almost  before  the  last  vote  had  rung  upon  them  in 
their  structure.  The  things  that  men  have  done  in  their 
own  strength  have  been  things  that  have  scarcely  outlived 
their  makers. 


IDEAS  are  cosmopolitan.  They  have  the  liberty  of  the 
world.  You  have  no  right  to  take  your  swords  and  cross 
the  bounds  of  other  nations  to  enforce  upon  them  laws  or 
institutions  which  they  are  unwilling  to  receive.  But 
there  is  no  limit  to  the  sphere  of  a  man's  ideas.  Your 
thoughts  and  feelings,  —  the  whole  world  lies  open  to 
them.  Every  right-thinking  man  has  a  right  to  send 
abroad  his  thoughts  into  any  latitude,  and  to  give  them 
sweep  around  and  around  the  earth.  He  has  a  right  to 
do  it,  but  of  course,  like  all  other  rights,  it  must  be  regu- 
lated with  prudence.  It  would  be  difficult  for  a  man  to 
propagate  his  thoughts  in  some  lands  ;  but  his  right  to  do 
it  exists,  nevertheless.  I  have  a  right  to  preach  Christ 
wherever  my  heart  will.  It  may  be  that  the  crescent, 
the  scimitar  glittering  under  it,  may  say  to  me,  "  At  the 
peril  of  your  life !  "  but  that  does  not  affect  my  right.  I 
have  a  right  before  idols,  before  Juggernaut,  everywhere 
on  the  whole  earth,  to  preach  not  only  Christ,  but  the 
ethics  of  Christ ;  and  not  only  the  ethics  of  Christ,  but 
the  civility  that  is  drawn  from  essential  Christianity,  and 
that  must  flow  from  it.  I  have  a  right  to  carry  all  the 
ideas  developed  in  consequence  of  Christianity,  in  their 
ideal  forms,  to  the  mind  of  every  living  human  being. 


A  CHRISTIAN  accepts,  first,  the  Divine  idea  of  his  own 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  263 

development  of  character,  and  labors  to  produce  in  him- 
self those  things  which  God  seeks.  It  makes  no  differ- 
ence that  the  results  are  imperfect.  The  artist  that  seeks 
to  make  a  portrait,  seeks  it  just  as  much  when  by  unskill 
he  makes  no  resemblance  to  the  subject,  as  when  by  skill 
he  makes  a  perfect  representation  of  the  subject.  He 
seeks  to  make  the  portrait,  whether  he  succeeds  or  n«t. 
And  a  Christian  perceives  what  is  the  Divine  idea  in  hu- 
man life  and  character,  and  aims  at  it ;  and  though  every 
day  he  comes  short,  or  overacts,  though  his  results  are 
filled  with  manifold  imperfections,  and  the  whole  work,  to 
him  even  is  a  blur,  instead  of  a  true  picture  of  the  joy 
and  righteousness  which  he  meant  to  paint,  nevertheless, 
he  has  aimed  at  it.  For  what  we  set  out  to  do  is  not  to 
be  measured  by  our  success  in  it.  The  bankrupt  aimed 
at  wealth  as  much  as  the  millionnaire.  The  man  that 
was  defeated  aimed  at  victory  as  much  as  he  that  wore 
the  laurel.  And  the  Christian,  though  from  weakness 
and  temptation  he  may  stumble,  if  he  accepts  the  Divine 
idea  of  what  human  life  and  character  should  be,  and 
seeks  it  with  all  his  heart,  works  together  with  God. 


THERE  are  two  kinds  of  heroes  in  the  world,  one  of 
which  we  stand  outside  of  to  admire,  and  the  other  of 
which  we  take  inside  of  us.  The  former  are  men  indif- 
ferent in  morals,  but  of  great  intellect,  great  genius,  great 
executive  force.  Peter  the  Great,  Napoleon,  and  many 
others,  were  men  of  such  singular  power  that  we  cannot 
but  admire  them.  But  there  have  been  some  men  in  the 
history  of  the  world  whom  we  not  merely  admire,  but 
whom  we  desire  to  take  into  our  souls,  and  into  whose 
care  and  keeping  we  desire  to  yield  up  our  life.  Men 
that  are  willing  to  stand  up  for  the  truth  against  all 


264  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

comers ;  men  that  never  equivocate ;  men  that  are  always 
full  of  truth,  —  those  are  the  men  that  the  soul  elects  to 
be  its  heroes.  It  is  a  glorious  thing  indeed  for  a  man  to 
be  able  so  to  carry  himself  that  every  one  who  sees  him 
shall  say,  "  He  is  transparent  in  all  that  he  says  and 
does :  his  yea  is  yea,  and  his  nay  is  nay"  If  only  such 
afe  heroes,  we  are  not  in  danger  of  being  surfeited. 


IN  those  ages  of  the  world  when  God  more  apparently 
guided  the  courses  of  man  personally,  promises  were 
made  to  individual  men.  For  the  most  part  the  men  of 
old  believed  with  the  simplicity  of  childhood.  It  was 
counted  to  Abraham  for  righteousness  that  he  believed 
God  against  the  evidence  of  his  own  senses.  With  them 
a  promise  of  God  put  an  end  to  all  controversy  and 
doubt. 

In  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  it  may  be  said  that 
God's  promises  respect  conduct  and  character,  rather 
than  personality.  "We  are  to  make  them  personal  by 
coming  into  certain  states  of  character,  or  into  certain 
conditions  of  life.  And  in  this  way  God's  promises  be- 
come applicable  to  the  whole  human  family. 

Thus,  the  Word  of  God  is  filled  with  assurances  of 
blessings.  No  book  was  ever  so  characterized  by  the 
element  of  promise.  There  are  threats  not  a  few,  but 
I  think  promises  greatly  outnumber  them,  as  if  it  were 
the  Divine  wish  to  draw  us  by  hope,  rather  than  drive 
us  by  fear.  Promises  cover  the  whole  period  of  human 
life.  They  meet  us  at  our  birth  ;  they  cluster  about  our 
childhood ;  they  overhang  our  youth ;  they  go  in  com- 
panies into  manhood  with  us ;  they  divide  themselves 
into  bands  and  stand  at  the  door  of  every  possible  expe- 
rience. You  cannot  bring  yourselves  into  a  condition 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  265 

for  which  I  cannot  find  in  God's  Word  some  promise. 
Therefore,  there  are  promises  of  God  to  the  ignorant ; 
to  the  poor ;  to  the  neglected  ;  to  the  burdened  ;  to  the 
oppressed  ;  to  the  discouraged ;  to  the  solitary ;  to  the 
imprisoned ;  to  the  sick  ;  to  the  heart-broken ;  to  the 
remorseful ;  to  the  weak ;  to  the  strong  ;  to  the  timid ; 
to  the  brave ;  to  every  affection ;  to  every  one  of  its 
exigencies ;  to  every  sphere  of  duty  ;  to  all  perils  ;  to 
every  temptation  that  waylays  good  men  in  their  jour- 
ney. There  are  promises  for  joy ;  for  sorrow ;  for  vic- 
tory ;  for  defeat ;  for  adversity ;  for  prosperity ;  for 
those  that  run ;  for  those  that  walk ;  for  those  who  can 
only  stand  still.  Old  age  has  its  garlands  as  full  and 
fragrant  as  youth.  The  sick,  the  dying,  all  men,  every- 
where, and  always,  have  their  promises  of  God. 


GOD'S  promises  are  fresh  with  everlasting  youth.  The 
stars  never  wear  out ;  they  are  just  as  good  to-day  as 
when  Abram  saw  them  directing  the  Oriental  people  by 
night.  The  sun  is  not  weary  from  the  number  of  years : 
there  are  no  wrinkles  on  its  brow.  The  urns  of  God  are 
replenished  by  outpouring,  and  they  increase  their  ful- 
ness by  that  which  they  yield.  And  so  God's  promises 
are  of  the  nature  of  laws.  The  heaven  and  the  earth 
shall  pass  away,  but  they  shall  not  change  in  one  jot  or 
tittle,  nor  pass  away. 

THE  music  of  this  world  has  been  for  the  most  part  in 
a  minor  key.  This  choral  globe  has  groaned  and  trav- 
ailed in  pain  until  now.  God  knew  the  fallen  condition 
of  the  race,  and  His  promises  were  made  explicitly  to  sin- 
ful men.  And  when  He  wrote  to  you,  do  you  suppose 
He  thought  you  an  angel  ?  He  knew  well  that  you  were 
12 


266  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

not.  He  knew  that  the  world  was  full  of  men  tempted 
and  temptable.  He  knew  that  men  were  in  a  world  of 
sin,  themselves  sinners.  And  He  sent  His  Son  to  you 
because  you  were  in  peril,  and  because  unless  there  was 
Divine  rescue  there  would  be  universal  ruin.  And  shall 
a  man  say,  "  I  cannot  plead  the  promises  of  God,  because 
I  am  sinful  ?  "  Therefore  plead  them,  because  you  are 
sinful ;  therefore  plead  them,  because  you  are  wicked ; 
therefore  trust  them,  because  though  you  are  bad  God  is 
good,  and  the  nature  of  goodness  is  to  relieve  want,  even 
though  that  want  be  founded  on  sin. 


OFTEN  and  often  Christ  comes  walking  to  the  disciples 
on  the  stormy  sea  and  in  the  night,  and  it  is  necessary 
that  there  should  be  some  power  of  faith,  some  cogent  in- 
fluence, that  shall  make  a  Christian  man  willing  to  follow 
rectitude,  duty,  honor,  truth,  no  matter  where  they  seem 
to  lead.  And  therefore  it  is  that  God  has  put  all  the 
bows,  all  the  coruscations  of  his  Word  around  about  the 
issues  and  ends  of  essential  truth,  honor,  duty,  and  recti- 
tude, and  that  He  says  to  us,  "  If  you  would  save  your 
life,  lose  it.  Do  not  be  afraid."  You  are  oftentimes 
brought  into  trials  when  it  seems  as  though  everything 
would  be  wrecked,  and  the  world  says,  "  Prudence " ; 
experience  says,  "  Draw  back  " ;  policy  says,  "  Change  a 
little  " ;  and  expediency  —  not  the  noble  expediency  of 
Divine  wisdom,  but  the  lower  and  baser  expediency  of 
human  calculation  —  says,  "  Commute,  compromise  "  ;  but 
the  Word  of  God  stands  saying,  "  If  you  would  save 
yourself,  be  willing  to  throw  everything  away  ;  if  you 
would  be  safe,  risk  everything,  and  stand  by  that  which 
is  essentially  right  and  true  and  noble."  The  Word  of 
God  that  stands  sure  and  steadfast,  and  is  yea  and  amen. 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  267 

says, "  He  that  will  lose  his  life  for  a  right  principle,  shall 
save  it.'"  And  in  the  end,  when  you  come  to  count  the 
wrecks  along  (he  shore,  you  will  find  that  those  men  "who 
would  save  their  lives  by  losing  their  principles  are  the 
men  that  have  lost  their  lives;  while  those  men  who 
braved  the  storm,  those  men  who  followed  the  superior 
light  that  shone  in  their  hearts,  those  men  who  said, 
"  Come  what  will,  there  is  but  one  way  for  me,  and  that 
is  the  way  that  God  has  marked  out,"  are  the  men  that 
have  saved  themselves. 


MEN  know  where  they  are  going  when  they  follow  a 
principle ;  because  principles  are  like  rays  of  light  If 
you  trace  a  ray  of  light  in  all  its  reflections,  you  will  find 
that  it  runs  back  to  the  central  sun ;  and  every  great  line 
of  truth,  every  great  line  of  heroism,  every  great  line  of 
honesty,  every  great  line  of  honor,  runs  back  toward  the 
centre  of  God.  And  the  man  that  follows  these  things 
knows  that  he  is  steering  right  Godward.  But  the  man 
that  follows  policies,  and  worldly  maxims,  does  not  know 
where  he  is  steering,  except  that  in  general  he  is  steering 
toward  the  Devil. 


"  CAN  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his 
spots  ?  Then  may  ye  also  do  good  that  are  accustomed 
to  evil." 

This  is  not  the  language  of  exact  physical  science.  It 
is  said  simply  to  signify  how  terribly  difficult  it  is  to  break 
off  from  a  bad  habit.  Ten  thousand  witnesses  testify,  too, 
that  there  are  sins  which  carry  such  branches,  such  roots, 
such  amazing  vitality,  that  they  fever  the  whole  soul  and 
body,  where  one  is  subject  to  them,  till  it  is  almost  like 
giving  up  life  itself  to  be  freed  from  them. 


268  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

THE  Jew  thought  that  God  was  the  God  of  the  Jews, 
that  the  Jew  had  a  right  to  be  saved,  and  that  no  other 
man  could  be  saved  without  becoming  a  Jew,  or  yielding 
obedience  to  the  requirements  of  the  Jewish  religion  ;  but 
the  apostles  declared  that  Christ  might  be  preached  to 
the  Gentiles  as  well  as  to  the  Jews,  and  that  the  benefits 
of  Christ's  blood  were  for  the  whole  world.  And  Paul 
here  goes  into  this  reasoning :  "  God  has  a  right  to  do  as 
He  pleases ;  He  has  a  right  to  save  men  that  do  not  be- 
long to  the  Jews,  nor  fulfil  the  demands  of  their  religious 
system  ;  He  has  a  right  to  call  people  unto  Himself  wher- 
ever and  whenever  He  pleases,  for  the  sake  of  making 
known  His  own  excellent  glory,  the  beneficence  of  His 
nature,  and  the  richness  of  His  grace  ;  and  who  art  thou 
that  thou  shouldst  question  His  wisdom  ? "  That  is  to 
say,  here  is  a  question  of  Divine  mercy  which  involves 
the  whole  schedule  of  government,  and  which,  therefore, 
you  cannot  understand.  You  cannot  understand  what 
God  ought  to  have  done,  and  what  would  have  been  the 

O  ' 

wisest  thing,  in  matters  of  creation  and  administration. 
You  are  obliged,  respecting  such  things,  to  take  facts 
as  they  come  to  you,  and  not  attempt  to  go  behind  the 
facts,  as  though  you  had  greater  wisdom  than  God. 


IT  is  folly  for  a  man  to  question  the  Divine  wisdom  in 
respect  to  mere  matters  of  administration  about  which  he 
is  of  necessity  most  ignorant ;  whose  elements  are  beyond 
his  reach ;  whose  conditions  involve  complexities  incal- 
culable ;  and  into  which  enters  a  principle  of  time  that  is 
infinite.  Thus,  for  example,  suppose  a  man  should  say 
to  God,  "  Why  did  you  make  the  world  as  you  did  ? 
Why  did  you  make  men  as  they  are  made  ?  Why  did 
you  establish  the  law  of  hereditary  descent,  by  which  the 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  269 

qualities  of  the  parent  go  to  the  children,  and  through  the 
children  to  many  generations  ?  Why  was  the.  world 
made  so  that  the  abstraction  of  heat  should  produce 
ice?"  Such  questions  as  these  addressed  to  God  are 
supremely  foolish,  and  the  man  that  addresses  them  to 
God  is  a  fool. 

But  suppose  that  God  has,  with  infinite  pains,  in- 
structed us  as  to  what  is  the  difference  between  self- 
ishness and  benevolence,  between  sympathy  and  love, 
between  indifference  and  self-seeking  and  seeking  anoth- 
er's welfare,  until  there  is  formed  in  us  a  clear  and 
correct  ideal  of  moral  character,  then  it  is  not  either 
presumptuous  or  blasphemous  to  apply  to  the  Divine 
character  that  very  criterion  of  moral  excellence  which 
He  himself  has  given  to  us.  The  difference,  in  other 
words,  between  applying  a  moral  measure  that  has  been 
given  to  us,  and  asking  questions  in  respect  to  adminis- 
trations and  governments  which  are  beyond  our  reach,  is 
a  world-wide  difference. 


GOD'S  Word  is  a  great  unopened  treasure.  It  seems 
to  me  like  some  old  baronial  estate  that  has  descended  to 
a  man  who  lives  in  a  modern  house,  and  thinks  it  scarcely 
worth  while  to  go  and  look  into  the  venerable  mansion. 
Year  after  year  passes  away,  and  he  pays  no  attention  to 
it,  since  he  has  no  suspicion  of  the  valuable  treasures  it 
contains,  till  at  last  some  man  says  to  him,  "  Have  you 
been  up  in  the  country  to  look  at  that  estate  ? "  He 
makes  up  his  mind  that  he  will  take  a  look  at  it.  As  he 
goes  through  the  porch  he  is  surprised  to  see  the  skill 
that  has  been  displayed  in  its  construction,  and  he  says, 
"  Indeed,  they  had  some  ideas  of  architecture  when  this 
house  was  built."  And  he  is  more  and  more  impressed 


270  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

as  he  goes  through  the  halls.  He  enters  a  large  room, 
and  is  astonished  as  he  beholds  the  wealth  of  pictures 
upon  the  walls,  among  which  are  portraits  of  many  of  his 
revered  ancestors.  He  stands  in  amazement  before  them ! 
There  is  a  Titian,  there  is  a  Raphael,  there  is  a  Correggio, 
and  there  is  a  Giorgione  !  He  says,  "  I  never  had  any 
idea  of  these  before."  "  Ah ! "  says  the  steward,  "  there 
is  many  another  thing  that  you  know  nothing  about  in 
this  castle  "  ;  and  he  takes  him  from  room  to  room,  and 
shows  him  carved  plate  and  wonderful  statues,  and  the 
man  exclaims,  "  Here  I  have  been  for  a  score  of  years 
the  owner  of  this  estate,  and  have  never  before  known 
what  things  were  in  it !  " 

But  no  architect  ever  conceived  of  such  an  estate  as 
God's  Word,  and  no  artist  or  carver  or  sculptor  ever 
conceived  of  such  pictures  and  carved  dishes  and  statues 
as  adorn  its  apartments.  Its  halls  and  passages  cannot 
be  surpassed  for  beauty  of  architecture,  and  it  contains 
treasures  that  silver  and  gold  and  precious  stones  are  not 
to  be  mentioned  in  connection  with. 


IF  there  are  any  that  have  made  up  their  mind  to 
know  life,  I  say  to  them,  Stop !  you  may  pay  too  dear 
for  your  knowledge.  Men  have  looked  into  the  crater 
of  a  volcano  to  see  what  was  there,  and  gone  down  to  ex- 
plore, without  coming  back  to  report  progress.  Many  and 
many  a  man  has  gone  to  see  what  was  in  hell,  that  did 
see  it.  Many  and  many  a  man  has  looked  to  see  what 
was  in  the  cup,  and  found  a  viper  coiled  up  therein. 
Many  and  many  a  man  has  gone  into  the  house  of  lust, 
and  found  that  the  ends  thereof  were  death,  —  bitter, 
rotten  death.  Many  and  many  a  man  has  sought  to 
learn  something  of  the  evils  of  gambling,  and  learned  it 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  271 

to  his  own  ruin.  And  I  say  to  every  man,  the  more 
you  know  about  these  things,  the  more  you  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  knowing ;  a  knowledge  of  them  is  not  neces- 
sary to  education  or  manhood ;  and  they  ought  to  be 
avoided,  because  when  a  man  has  once  fallen  into  them, 
the  way  out  is  so  steep  and  hard.  Many  and  many  a 
man  has  ^ begun  to  climb  the  giddy  cliff  of  reformation  ; 
but,  0,  how  few  have  succeeded  in  getting  over  its  brow! 
Methinks  I  see  men  sweltering  in  passions,  and  swim- 
ming out  to  the  base  of  the  cliff,  and  attempting  to  climb 
up.  Some  are  higher  than  othejs.  One  after  another 
falls  back,  or  is  plucked  down  by  some  fiendish  hand. 
Some  are  half  way  up  the  cliff,  and  struggling  hard  to 
reach  the  top.  Some  turn  ghastly  pale  when  they  look 
down  at  the  abyss  below ;  and  they  are  filled  with  de- 
spair when  they  look  up  at  the  height  above  them.  And 
where  one  goes  over  and  is  saved,  ninety-nine  fall  back 
and  are  lost. 


EVERT  praying  man  and  every  woman  on  the  globe 
who  lives  in  the  intelligent  knowledge  of  Christ,  and 
employs  the  Spirit  and  truth  of  Christ  intelligently,  just 
as  much  as  councils,  and  synods,  and  conventions,  and 
churches,  has  the  power  of  the  keys.  God  gives  it  to 
every  one  that  desires  to  have  the  living  nature  of  Christ 
in  him.  Ah  !  do  you  not  suppose  there  have  been  thou- 
sands of  men  who  have  gone  down  through  life  arrogating 
this  claim  that  never  opened  the  door  of  heaven  to  one 
single  soul?  There  have  been  hundreds  of  popes,  I 
suppose,  who  have  opened  the  door  of  the  future,  —  but 
it  was  the  door  of  perdition,  —  who  have  not  opened  the 
door  of  heaven  even  for  themselves,  and  much  less  for 
any  that  came  after  them,  or  went  before  them.  And 


272  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

yet  there  have  been  hundreds  of  poor  bedridden  Chris- 
tians whose  key  was  bright  with  perpetual  using,  and 
who,  by  faith,  and  example,  and  testimony,  did  bind  in- 
iquity in  the  world,  by  the  golden  cords  of  truth,  and  did 
set  loose,  by  the  same  truth,  those  that  were  bound, 
giving  them  power  of  spiritual  insight,  giving  them  eman- 
cipation, and  bringing  them  into  the  large  light  and  lib- 
erty of  the  children  of  God.  Emancipators  of  the  soul, 
they  were, — humble,  uncrowned,  uncanonical,  unordained, 
God-sanctified  souls.  They  knew  Christ,  and  loved  Him, 
and  poured  out  His  spirit  upon  men. 

There  is  a  solemn  sens.e  in  which  they  that  are  enlight- 
ened and  converted  by  the  truth  should  hold  the  keys  to 
enlighten  all  those  who  are  vicious  and  ignorant  beneath 
them.  By  your  superiority  you  are  tempted  to  make 
yourself  the  monarch  of  those  beneath  you.  But  God 
ordains  you  to  be  the  schoolmaster  of  all  who  are  less 
enlightened  than  you  are.  Are  you  higher  than  men  ? 
It  is  not  that  you  should  sit  enthroned  in  their  praises,  and 
demand  their  suffrages,  and  the  tribute  of  their  admira- 
tion. The  higher  you  are,  the  more  prompt  you  should 
be  to  go  down  to  those  that  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow 
of  death.  Has  God  given  to  your  soul  the  knowledge 
of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ?  Are  you  linked  with 
other  brethren  that  are  of  the  same  blessed  procession  ? 
Do  you  constitute  a  class  ?  Do  you  rear  your  own  chil- 
dren in  the  light  and  knowledge  of  these  truths  ?  Where 
are  those  that  are  below  you  ?  Where  are  the  vicious  ? 
Where  are  the  criminals?  Where  are  the  unlettered 
and  ignorant  wanderers  in  the  street  ?  Where  are  the 
great  mass  that  have  subsided  to  the  bottom  of  society  ? 
Somebody  must  be  their  illuminator.  Somebody  must 
point  their  way  to  the  city.  Somebody  must  open  its 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  273 

flashing  gates  to  them.  Every  one  that  has  the  mind 
and  will  of  Christ,  and  abides  in  His  Spirit,  stands  in  the 
relation  to  those  below  him  of  the  holder  of  the  keys. 
Woe  be  to  him  that  in  time  of  famine  has  bread  and  lets 
men  starve  because  he  will  not  part  with  it !  Woe  be  to 
him  that  in  time  of  plague  has  medicine,  and  lets  men  die 
untended !  Double  woe  be  to  him  that  has  been  enlight- 
ened of  God,  and  lets  men  perish  because  he  will  not 
take,  by  the  authority  of  God,  the  light  that  he  has  re- 
ceived and  carry  it  to  them.  Are  there  not  within  the 
touch  of  the  hem  of  your  garment ;  are  there  not  in  your 
business  places  ;  are  there  not  in  your  daily  travels  ;  are 
there  not  in  the  thoroughfares  of  the  city,  scores  and 
hundreds  into  whose  darkened  minds  never  pierced  the 
light  of  God's  truth,  to  whom  you  never  came  with  a 
lantern  ?  Here  you  stand  unconcerned,  —  you  whose 
soul  is  luminous,  you  that  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  have  been  ordained  to  be  a  teacher,  a  leader,  and 
a  dispenser  of  spiritual  things,  —  and  men  are  wasting 
and  dying  in  darkness  all  round  about  you !  God  has 
given  you  the  keys,  and  He  will  hold  you  to  a  responsi- 
bility for  the  right  use  of  them. 


IT  has  been  said  with  a^atal  carelessness,  that  God 
lives  for  Himself,  —  that  is,  for  His  own  glory. 

I  do  not  deny  that  all  the  way  through  the  Scriptures 
this  monarchic  idea  is  maintained,  which  represents  God 
as  creating  and  ministering  for  His  own  glory,  and  that 
He  may  be  said  in  a  certain  sense  to  live  for  His  own 
glory ;  but  He  does  not  create  and  minister  and  live  for 
such  a  glory  as  it  has  been  represented  that  He  does. 
We  are  not  to  dwell  upon  one  class  of  texts,  and  form 
our  ideas  of -God's  nature  and  government  from  them. 
12*  K 


274  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

We  are  to  take  all  the  representations  of  the  Bible  in 
respect  to  God,  and  our  conception  of  His  nature  and 
government  is  to  be  the  resultant  of  them  all.  And  in 
interpreting  even  those  texts  which  seem  to  make  God's 
glory  the  end  and  aim  of  His  existence,  we  must  beware 
of  employing  the  analogies  which  come  from  the  weak 
side  of  human  nature.  We  are  obliged  to  interpret  God 
from  ourselves ;  and  our  danger  is  that  we  shall  interpret 
Him  from  the  baser  side  of  human  experience,  and  not 
from  the  nobler.  If  we  interpret  the  Divine  government 
from  human  monarchy,  we  must  take  the  ideal  monarchy, 
and  not  the  real ;  we  must  take  those  conceptions  of  mon- 
archy which  have  carried  in  them  the  most  gladness  and 
generosity  and  royalty  for  others,  and  not  those  which 
have  produced  the  impression  of  an  iron  nature,  and  a 
sceptre  clenched  for  the  sake  of  oppression  and  wrong. 
But  a  man  that  is  a  natural-born  governor ;  a  man  whose 
self-esteem  and  firmness  are  large,  and  whose  benevo- 
lence and  social  faculties  are  small,  in  interpreting -mon- 
archy, and  applying  it  to  God's  government,  will  think 
and  feel  that  a  being  that -possesses  supreme  power  has  a 
right  to  govern  as  he  pleases.  But  such  a  view  perverts 
the  analogue  from  which  we  form  our  conception  of  the 
Divine  nature. 

THE  true  glory  of  God  must  be  interpreted  in  Christ 
Jesus;  and  when  you  understand  what  it  is  that  God 
makes  to  be  His  glory ;  when  you  understand  that  the 
glory  of  God  is  not  self-laudation,  nor  enriching  His  own 
power,  nor  multiplying  His  own  treasures,  but  that  it  is 
supremely  to  make  others  happy ;  when  you  understand 
that  the  glory  of  God  means  loving  other  people  and  not 
Himself,  mercy  and  not  selfishness,  the  distribution  of  His 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  275 

bounty  and  not  the  hoarding  it  up ;  when  you  understand 
that  God  sits  with  all  the  infinite  stores  of  redemptive 
love  only  to  shed  them  abroad  upon  men  forever  and  for- 
ever, then  you  form  a  different  conception  of  what  4t  i.s 
for  God  to  reign  for  His  own  glory.  If  love  is  His  glory ; 
if  generosity  is  His  glory ;  if  giving  is  His  glory  ;  if  think- 
ing of  the  poor  is  His  glory ;  if  strengthening  the  weak  is 
His  glory ;  if  standing  as  the  defender  of  the  wronged  is 
His  glory  ;  if  loving  and  watching  over  every  being  that 
He  has  created  forever  and  forever,  is  His  glory,  then, 
blessed  be  that  teaching  which  represents  that  God  does 
reign  for  His  own  glory.  That  is  a  glory  which  is  worthy 
of  the  Divine  regality.  It  will  bring  out  blossoms  of  joy 
and  gladness  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 


WE  measure  things  by  the  point  wherein  their  supe- 
riority lies.  The  swine  we  estimate  for  fatness ;  oxen  for 
strength  and  flesh  ;  dogs  for  scent  and  sagacity ;  horses 
for  speed  and  endurance. 

Now,  man  is  to  be  measured  by  that  which  makes  him 
MAN,  in  distinction  from  everything  else  ;  and  that  is  not 
foot,  nor  hand  nor  body,  nor  appetites,  nor  passions,  nor 
economic  or  commercial  power.  These  are  not  the  things 
that  make  him  man.  It  is  that  which  has  been  stamped 
on  him  —  God's  image  —  that  makes  him  man.  That 
part  of  his  nature  which  introduces  the  moral  element, 
right  and  wrong ;  the  spiritual  element,  invisible  reali- 
ties ;  and  the  benevolent  element,  the  very  divinity  of 
love.  Here  man  must  be  measured  ;  for  here,  and  only 
here,  he  becomes  man,  among  the  creatures  of  the  world. 
And  our  substantial  judgment  of  what  we  are,  what  our 
character  isr  and  what  we  are  worth  as  men,  is  to  be 
formed  upon  this  high  moral  development,  —  You  are 
worth  just  how  good  you  are  ! 


276  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

IT  is  one  of  the  rarest  things  in  the  world  to  find  a 
man  who,  when  he  looks  upon  a  fellow-man,  sees  him  as 
God  sees  him,  —  as  a  spiritual  being.  Men  foremost  in 
the"  church,  fluent  in  prayer,  and  great  at  exhortation, 
when  they  go  forth,  do  not  see  God  in  man.  Such  men 
have  devotion  as  a  sentiment,  as  an  ecstatic  emotion;  they 
have  temporary  Christian  feelings  ;  but  they  are  wanting 
in  deep-seated  piety.  To  make  moral  character  the 
standard  by  which  to  judge  of  a  man,  and  to  look  at  him 
in  the  immortality,  is  a  thing  which  is  not  done  by  one 
out  of  ten  thousand.  I  think  no  more  revolutionary 
thing  could  occur  than  for  an  angel  to  descend  from 
heaven,  and  operate  upon  the  mind  of  every  man,  so  that 
he  would  of  necessity  look  on  every  other  man  as  God 
sees  him  ;  so  that  whenever  you  looked  upon  your  child, 
it  would  stand  to  you  as  the  babe  Jesus  stands  to  our  ad- 
miration, —  as  a  child  of  God ;  so  that,  whenever  you 
looked  upon  your  neighbors,  you  would  not  see  what 
their  bodies  represent  them  to  be,  but  as  angel  eyes  see 
them,  when  their  moral  nature  flames  up  invisibly  before 
eyes  that  can  see  the  invisible  !  O,  if  every  day,  when 
you  went  to  your  business,  and  executed  your  law  of 
selfishness,  you  saw  men  just  exactly  as  they  are,  how 
different  would  be  your  feelings  on  beholding  them  !  If 
when  men  raise  the  lash  above  the  head  of  the  helpless, 
or  lay  the  grinding  hand  upon  the  weak,  they  were  in- 
stantly, by  some  mysterious  change,  made  to  see  that  it 
was  God's  angel  they  were  holding  in  the  dust,  how 
would  they  start  back  amazed,  and  say,  "  I  thought  it 
was  a  man,  and  behold  I  was  wrestling  with  an  angel !  " 
If  men  were  to  see  their  fellow-men  as  God's  angels  in 
embryo,  and  were  to  judge  of  them,  not  by  their  spheres 
in  life,  not  by  their  physical  relations,  but  by  their  rela- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  277 

tions  to  the  eternal  state,  and  were  to  feel  that  every 
man  was  a  child  of  God,  and  an  heir  of  immortality, 
what  a  revolution  there  would  be  in  the  structure  of 
society ! 

I  THINK  that  a  man  struggling  against  Christianity 
when  under  conviction,  is  like  a  fractious  child  struggling 
against  a  dear  mother,  when  she  reproves  and  punishes  it 
until,  overcome  by  discipline,  it  rushes  into  her  arms, 
and  kisses  her  with  a  paroxysm  of  tears,  and  sobs  even 
when  it  sleeps.  I  have  seen  men  who,  under  conviction, 
fought  terribly  against  God  till  Christ  was  manifested  to 
them,  when  they  yielded  themselves  up  to  Him,  saying, 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God !  "  and  with  sweet  peace  fell 
into  His  arms,  and  were  carried  by  Him  the  rest  of 
their  lives.  Is  not  Christ  precious  in  such  hours  ? 


CHRISTIANS  are  like  freight-engines  at  night.  They 
carry  a  powerful  lamp  in  front,  which  casts  a  light  far 
ahead,  but  in  no  other  direction,  leaving  the  everlasting 
snake-train  which  they  drag  behind  them  enveloped  in 
darkness.  This  light  corresponds  to  the  Christian's  hope, 
which  casts  its  rays  heavenward,  but  leaves  the  long 
train  of  bodily  appetites  and  necessities  which  go  with 
him  through  life  unilluminated.  Men  regard  their  world- 
ly business  and  their  family  duties  as  distinct  from  their 
religion.  They  carry  the  light  of  hope  on  their  brow, 
and  that  is  what  they  call  their  religion  ;  whereas,  I  un- 
derstand religion  to  be  this :  the  right  carriage  of  body 
and  soul,  all  together.  I  understand  that  no  man  is  liv- 
ing a  Christian  life  who  is  not  a  Christian  in  the  world, 
in  the  family,  in  the  church,  in  his  mind,  in  his  soul,  in 
the  emotions  and  appetites  of  his  nature,  in  his  hand,  in 


2Y8  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

his  foot,  in  his  head,  —  who  is  not  a  Christian  every- 
where, and  in  everything  in  him.  To  take  every  faculty 
or  power  God  has  given  you  and  bring  it  under  Divine 
influences,  and  make  it  act  right,  —  that  is  being  a 
Christian ;  and  all  partialisms,  by  just  so  much  as  they 
are  partialisms,  are,  therefore,  misunderstandings  or  mis- 
appropriations of  Christian  truth. 


DOES  the  Bible  tell  you  the  truth  about  your  nature 
and  your  condition?  Does  it  tell  you  how  to  make 
yourself  better  ?  Is  it  a  book  which  reveals  the  grandeur 
of  immortality  ?  Above  all,  does  it  lift  upon  the  crude 
imaginations  of  men  in  every  age,  upon  the  imperfect 
picturings  which  men  have  made  of  the  Godhead,  the 
clear  and  sublime  light  of  certainty?  Does  it  collect 
from  our  higher  experiences  and  our  nobler  feelings, 
those  elements  which  do  truly  represent  God ;  and 
magnifying  them,  passing  upon  them  the  proportions 
of  infinity,  and  lifting  them  up  above  all  obstruction, 
impurity,  and  unworthiness,  does  it  hold  forth  to  the 
enraptured  sight  a  God  at  once  in  sympathy  with  human 
nature,  yet  transcendently  greater  than  it :  comprehensi- 
ble in  kind  and  nature,  though,  by  virtue  of  infinity, 
utterly  unsearchable  in  degree  and  magnitude  ?  Does 
it  present  a  God  standing  upon  Truth,  and  upon  Justice, 
but  blazing  upward  into  Love,  which,  like  an  atmosphere, 
fills  the  infinite  round  of  eternity ;  glorious  in  holiness ; 
fearful  in  praises;  but  sublime,  above  all  other  things, 
for  Love?  Is  it  a  book  which,  evoking  from  the  far 
and  impalpable  heavens  the  ideal  conception  of  God, 
causes  Him  to  walk  in  human  form,  interpreted  thus 
into  human  conditions ;  and  in  the  life,  the  teachings,  the 
unexplainable  sufferings,  the  sublime  death,  the  sepulchre 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  279 

hiding,  the  resurrection,  the  ascension,  the  glorification  of 
Jesus  Christ,  presents  a  Saviour  suited  to  a  man's  wants, 
weaknesses,  and  sins  ;  —  taking  hold  of  us  by  all  that  is 
tender  and  generous,  touching  whatever  in  us  there  is  of 
honor,  of  gratitude,  of  pity,  of  love ;  —  transforming  us 
both  by  the  power  of  our  own  understandings,  lifted  up 
upon  the  mightiest  truths,  and  by  the  co-operative  greater 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  shed  abroad  upon  the  heart  ? 
Does  it  present  such  a  Saviour  as  every  man  feels  that 
he  needs,  so  soon  as  his  moral  life  is  thoroughly  awak- 
ened ;  so  soon  as  he  begins  to  measure  himself  by  a  law 
higher  than  any  which  the  world  gives  ?  Is  it  a  book 
from  which  men  without  number  have  drawn  motives  of 
sublime  life?  Is  there  any  other  heroism  recorded  .on 
earth  so  sublime  as  that  which  has  sprung  from  faith  in 
Christ  ?  Without  a  revelation,  now  and  then,  rare  and 
great  souls  there  have  been,  capable  of  endurance,  of  self- 
denial,  and  the  loftiest  heroism.  It  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  has  taught  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  common 
people,  to  live  heroic  lives.  And  since  men  began  to 
believe  in  it,  and  to  form  their  lives  from  its  inspiration, 
heroism  has  become  cheap.  Yea,  it  is  oftener  found  in 
the  cottage,  now,  than  on  the  battle-field.  And  when 
the  last  great  day  shall  reveal  the  unknown  things  of 
time,  the  heroes  of  the  cradle-side  ;  the  heroes  of  the 
sick-chamber  ;  the  heroes  of  poverty  ;  the  heroes  of  tha 
dungeon  ;  the  heroes  of  labor ;  the  despised  heroes,^hat 
grow,  thick  as  grass,  in  the  low  places  of  the  earth,  and; 
like  the  grass,  are  trodden  down,  often,  under  the  hoofs 
of  men ;  these  —  that  great  army  of  the  last  that  are 
destined  to  be  first,  this  illustrious  host  that  shall  flame 
upward  from  the  bottom  to  the  very  top  and  summit  of 
glory  —  shall  tell  of  the  divinity  of  the  New  Testament 


280  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

what  it  does,  declare  what  it  is.  Its  power  upon  men 
measures  the  power  of  God  in  it.  That  which  can  bring 
men  to  God  must  itself  have  come  from  God. 


IT  is  Christ  that  I  would  make  personal  to  you.  He 
is  not  a  Being  that  dwells  in  the  inner  recesses  of  the 
eternal  world,  inaccessible,  incomprehensible.  He  is  not 
the  stern  king,  unbending,  upon  a  throne  of  justice,  lifted 
up  above  the  reach  of  sighs  and  sinful  wants.  He  is  not 
as  one  fortified  behind  the  bulwarks  of  law,  so  that  one 
must  cannonade,  and  breach  the  walls  with  prayers,  and 
then  rush  in  to  take  Him  captive.  Men  never  find 
Christ,  but  are  always  found  of  Him.  He  goes  forth  to 
seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  It  is  not  the  outreaching  of 
our  thought,  it  is  not  the  attraction  of  our  heart,  it  is  not 
the  strong  drawing  of  our  sympathy  and  yearning,  that 
brings  Him  to  us.  It  is  the  abounding  love  of  His  heart 
that  draws  us  up  toward  Him.  His  love  precedes  ours. 
"  We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us."  We  kindle 
our  hearts  at  His.  As  the  sun  is  up  before  the  sluggard, 
so  the  twilight  and  dawn  of  His  love  is  upon  the  hills 
when  we  wake ;  and  when  we  sleep,  even,  His  thoughts 
burn  above  us  as  the  stars  burn  through  the  night ! 

It  is  this  willing,  winning,  pleading  Christ,  who  wields 
all  the  grandeur  of  justice  and  all  the  authority  of  uni- 
versal empire  with  such  rare  and  sweet  gentleness,  that 
in  all  the  earth  there  is  none  like  unto  Him,  that  I  set 
before  you  as  your  personal  friend  !  He  knows  each  of 
you  better  than  your  mother  knew  you  !  He  has  called 
you  by  name !  In  your  households  you  are  not  so  famil- 
iar to  your  most  cherished  friend  as  you  are  to  the 
thought  of  Christ !  Not  so  indelibly  is  your  name  re- 
corded in  your  father's  memory,  or  in  the  baptismal  reg- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  281 

ist.er  of  the  sanctuary,  or  in  the  family  Bible,  where  the 
tabular  leaf  for  births  holds  your  infant  name,  as  upoa 
the  ever-remembering  heart  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ! 


BE  not  discouraged  because  you  are  sinful.  It  is  the 
very  office  of  Christ's  love  to  heal  your  sin.  Not,  then, 
when  you  have  overcome  them  yourself,  is  He  prepared 
to  receive  you  ;  it  is  His  delight  to  give  you  help  while 
wrestling  with  your  sins.  He  is  your  pilot  to  lead  you 
out  of  trouble.  No  pilot  would  he  be  that  only  then 
would  take  my  ship  when  I  had  gone  through  the  nar- 
rows, and  could  see  the  city,  and  was  quite  free  of  all  dan- 
ger. Who  would  need  a  physician  if  he  might  not  come 
to  his  bedside  until  after  he  was  healed  ?  What  use  of  a 
schoolmaster  if  one  may  not  go  to  school  till  his  educa- 
tion be  complete  ?  What  hope  of  salvation  if  God  would 
give  us  no  help  till  the  whole  work  of  subduing  the  nat- 
ural heart  were  completed?  And  our  Saviour  is  one 
who  begins  and  completes  in  us  the  work  of  grace.  He 
Is  the  author  of  our  faith,  and  the  finisher  of  it.  It  is  His 
power  that  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good 
pleasure.  Pie  comes  to  you  when  you  are  dead,  and  by 
His  touch  brings  you  to  Jife.  When  you  are  weak,  He 
inspires  you  with  strength.  When  you  are  tempted,  He 
opens  the  door  of  escape.  When  you  are  vanquished,  He 
appears  to  lift  you  up  and  binds  your  wounds.  Yea, 
bending  under  all  our  burdens,  and  loaded  down  with  our 
own  sins,  behold  that  Christ  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  He  was 
wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our 
iniquities ;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him ; 
and  by  his  stripes  we  have  healing," 


WATCH  unto  prayer!     Many  have  supposed  that  it 


282  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

was  impossible  for  a  man  to  be  in  this  state  of  watchful- 
ness, and  yet  be  a  buoyant,  singing  Christian.  Just  as 
though  a  man  could  not  whistle  while  acting  as  a  senti- 
nel! Just  as  though  he  could  not  think  of  home,  of  his 
lady-love,  and  of  a  ttiousand  things  beside,  while  faith- 
fully watching  at  his  post. 


A  MAN  is  said  in  the  Bible  to  be  more  precious  than 
the  gold  of  Ophir  ;  and  of  a  woman  it  is  said,  "  Her  price 
is  far  above  rubies."  These  were  common  comparisons. 
There  is  something  in  the  glow  of  precious  stones  that 
peculiarly  fits  them  to  serve  for  such  spiritual  figures. 
There  is  about  them  a  subtle  light  —  a  brilliancy  —  that 
burns  without  fire ;  that  consumes  nothing,  and  requires 
no  supply  ;  that  forever  shines  without  oil ;  that  is  ever 
living,  unwasting,  unchanged  by  any  of  the  natural  ele- 
ments. A  diamond  that  glows  in  the  sunlight  flashes 
yet  more  beautifully  in  the  night.  No  mould  can  get 
root  upon  it ;  no  rust  can  Jarnish  it ;  no  decay  can  waste 
it.  The  jewels  that  were  buried  two  thousand  years  ago, 
if  now  dug  up  from  royal  and  priestly  tombs,  would  come 
forth  as  fair  and  fresh  as  they  were  when  the  proud 
wearer  first  carried  them  in  his  diadem.  Such  stones 
seemed  to  the  ancients,  and  are,  fit  emblems  by  which  to 
represent  spiritual  qualities,  and  the  beauty  and  imperish- 
ableness  of  Christian  virtue.  And  a  company  of  holy 
men,  resting  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  may  well  be 
compared  to  a  palace  built  upon  broad  foundations,  and 
sparkling  to  the  very  summit  with  living  stones,  which 
throw  back  to  the  sun  a  differing  flash  through  every  hour 
of  his  rise  or  fall  through  the  long  day. 


IT  is  one  thing  to  be  a  believer  in  God's  government ; 


.    ROYAL  TRUTHS.  283 

it  is  another  thing  to  hold  company  with  God,  —  to  be- 
hold Him,  to  love  Him,  and  to  commune  with  Him,  to 
twine  your  life  about  Him. 

Sometimes  a  child  is  removed  from  its  mother's  care, 
and  put  out  to  nurse  to  a  foster-mother.  Through  all  its 
•earlier  years  it  is,  as  it  were,  the  child  of  this  new-found 
mother.  For  some  reasons  the  parents  may  not  choose, 
for  a  time,  to  own  their  child.  They  may  secretly  go 
where  it  is,  and  look  upon  it  as  it  sleeps.  It  shall  hear 
about  them,  and  shall  know  that  all  its  wants  are  supplied 
by  them.  It  may  even  yearn  for  mother  and  father,  and 
wonder  what  those  words  must  mean  at  last.  And  yet 
the  child  never  sees  its  parents.  But,  by  and  by,  they 
send  for  their  child,  and  it  is  brought  home.  Now,  little 
by  little,  it  grows  acquainted  with  them.  It  rides  with 
them ;  it  eats  with  them ;  it  talks  with  them ;  it  loves 
them  ;  it  begins  to  live  with  them.  And  is  there  no  dif- 
ference between  depending  on  parents  whom  you  do  not 
know,  and  a  conscious  communion  with  them  when  you 
are  united  to  them  ?  Is  there  no  difference  between  the 
relation  of  a  child  to  its  parents  when  it  is  a  foster-child, 
kept  aloof,  supported  by  the  parents  through  others,  and 
its  relation  to  them  afterwards,  when  it  is  brought  home, 
embraced,  embosomed,  and  made  hourly  conscious  of  their 
presence  and  personal  love  ?  Now,  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  our  being  put  out  to  nurse  in  this  world.  There  is, 
also,  such  a  thing  as  our  being  brought  home  to  God,  as 
our  Father ;  and  in  the  light  of  this  illustration  it  is  easy 
to  perceive  that  there  is  a  world- wide  difference  between 
a  conscious  dependence  upon  God  and  a  conscious  com- 
munion with  Him. 


You  may  ask,  "  "Vfaiat  will  become  of  those  men  who 


284  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

are  so  good,  but  whom  you  do  not  class  among  Chris- 
tians ?  "  I  do  not  know.  Thank  God,  I  am  not  God ! 
Every  man  hears  the  drum-beat  of  the  eternal  world. 
Every  man  must  stand  for  himself,  and  every  man  must 
answer  for  himself  there.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  bring 
myself  and  my  t>wn  charge  to  God,  without  stopping  to- 
answer  questions  which  belong  to  the  future.  One  thing 
I  know,  and  that  is,  that  there  is  no  other  name  but  the 
name  of  Christ  given  under  heaven,  that  we  know  any- 
thing about,  whereby  we  can  be  saved.  One  thing  I 
know,  and  that  is,  that  he  who  trusts  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  shall  never  be  moved.  One  thing  I  know,  that 
there  is  a  power  in  Christ  to  translate  a  man  above  his 
sins,  and  almost  above  temptations,  in  this  world.  I  be- 
lieve there  is  a  power  in  Christ  to  disfranchise  a  man,  and 
take  away  from  him  the  livery  of  hell ;  and  to  enfran- 
chise a  man,  and  give  him  the  livery  of  heaven.  I  be- 
lieve there  is  a  power  in  the  faith  of  Christ  Jesus  to 
transform  a  man  from  evil  to  good,  and  from  good  to 
samtship,  and  bring  him  to  the  haven,  to  the  home  above. 
If  there  is  any  other  way  for  a  man  to  be  saved  except 
through  this  faith,  I  do  not  know  what  it  is.  But  one 
thing  I  know,  and  that  is,  that  the  joy  which  I  derive 
from  faith  in  Christ  is  ten  thousand  times  greater  than 
any  of  the  other  joys  which  greet  my  heart  in  this  world. 
I  know  no  other  light ;  I  will  steer  for  that.  I  feel  no 
other  influence ;  I  will  be  drawn  by  that.  I  have  no 
other  faith ;  I  will  trust  in  that.  For  he  who  lives  and 
dies  believing  in  Christ,  shall  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life. 


HIGHER    than    morality,   higher    than    philanthropy, 
higher  than  worship,  comes  the  love  of  God.     That  is 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  285 

the  chiefest  thing.  When  we  have  that,  we  reach  the 
very  thing  for  which  the-  New  Testament  scheme  was 
administered.  Love !  it  is  that  which  brings  forth  out 
of  obscurity  the  hidden  God  which  we  seek.  Send  forth 
all  the  powers  of  the  soul  to  search  for  God,  and  there 
is  not  one  of  them  which,  making  inquisition  according  to 
its  own  nature,  can  find  Him  out  and  reveal  Him,  except 
this  divine  spirit  of  love  !  Put  wings  of  imagination  upon 
Conscience,  and  let  it  fly  forth.  Say  to  it,  "  Go,  and  find 
thy  God ! "  Flying  through  night  and  through  day ; 
above  and  beneath ;  among  clouds  and  thunder ;  through 
darkness  and  through  light;  it  would  return  at  length, 
wing-tired,  only  to  say,  "I  have  found  marks  of  God,  in 
law,  in  pain,  and  penalty ;  I  have  seen  the  traces  of 
thunder,  and  the  path  of  lightning,  and  the  foundations 
of  eternal  power ;  but  nowhere  have  I  found  the  full 
God." 

Give  the  wings  of  faith  to  Reason,  and  send  it,  in  turn, 
forth  from  east  to  west,  around  the  earth,  and  through 
the  heavens,  to  see  if  by  searching  it  can  find  out  God  ; 
and  it  shall  say,  "  I  have  seen  the  curious  work  of  His 
hand,  and  have  marked  the  treasures  that  He  hath  heaped 
up.  The  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory,  and  the  heav- 
ens are  unsearchable  by  us.  What  God  hath  done  I 
have  felt,  but  God  himself  is  hidden  from  my  sight." 

Let  Fear,  equipped  with  faith,  pursue  the  same  errand. 
It  would  not  even  know  which  way  to  fly,  and,  turning 
downward,  groping  or  flying  directly  amidst  infernal 
things,  it  would  rehearse  a  catalogue  of  terrors,  of  gloomy 
fears,  or  brooding  superstitions ;  but  the  bright  sun-clad 
God  it  could  not  see. 

Let  Reverence  go  forth.  But  what  there  is  in  Rever- 
ence can  never  interpret  what  there  is  in  God.  This 


286  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

feeling  can  touch  the  divine  orb  but  in  a  single  point. 
And  the  Heavens  would  say  to  Reverence,  "  Such  an 
one  as  you  seek  is  not  in  me " ;  and  Hell  would  say, 
"  He  is  not  in  me  "  ;  and  Earth  and  Time  would  repeat, 
"  He  is  not  in  us  ! " 

It  is  only  Love  that  can  find  out  God  without  search- 
ing. Upon  its  eyes  God  dawns.  Wherever  it  looks, 
and  whatever  it  sees,  —  that  is  God ;  for  God  is  love. 
Love  is  that  regent  quality  which  was  meant  to  reveal 
the  Divine  to  us.  It  carries  its  own  light,  and,  by  its 
own  secret  nature,  is  drawn  instantly  toward  God,  and 
reflects  the  knowledge  of  Him  back  upon  us. 


I  KNOW  that  my  Redeemer  liveth.  I  have  stood  near 
the  grave,  and  then  I  knew  that  my  Redeemer  lived,  and 
that  because  He  lived  I  should.  I  have  gazed  through 
that  most  powerful  glass  of  all,  through  which  God  re- 
veals the  invisible,  —  the  fresh-opened  graves  of  my 
children!  —  and  there,  in  the  tumults  and  revolutions  of 
grief,  I  knew  that  my  Redeemer  lived,  and  that  He  was 
with  me  to  comfort  me.  I  have  seen  trials  and  troubles 
of  various  kinds  in  my  life ;  and  I  bear  witness  that  there 
was  never  a  time  when  I  needed  help  that  He  was  not  by 
my  side  to  help  me.  And  I  have  no  sort  of  doubt  that 
Christ  will  stand  by  me  to  the  end,  and  conduct  me 
through  the  gate  of  death  to  eternal  life.  And  no  man 
shall  move  me  from  my  faith  in  Him ! 


TELL  me  that  it  is  an  impossible  thing  for  a  man  to 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  invisible !  You 
might  as  well,  if  I  were  now  to  go  forth  beneath  the 
glorious  sun,  and  its  rays  were  to  fall  down  through  the 
air  upon  me  and  about  me  on  every  side,  tell  me  there 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  287 

was  no  sun  !  Councils  of  owls  and  bats  may  come  to  me, 
under  the  name  of  philosophers,  and  say,  "  Do  you  not 
think  that  all  these  which  you  are  talking  about  —  rays 
of  the  sun,  flowers,  singing-birds,  curling  smoke,  and  the 
like  —  are  a  delusion  ?  We  have  lived  almost  as  long  as 
you  have,  and  we  have  consulted  the  oldest  owls  and 
bats,  and  we  do  not  believe  in  them."  Let  owls  and  bats 
take  their  experience  from  dens  and  caves,  but  let  men 
take  their  knowledge  from  the  open  heavens.  I  know, 
—  whatever  men  may  say,  in  the  low  places  and  the  high 
places  of  life,  —  I  know  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  lov- 
ing Jesus  Christ  as  a  friend,  as  a  brother  ;  and  that  there 
is  no  other  love  that  is  so  sweet,  so  deep,  so  lasting,  so 
wondrous,  as  that  which  the  soul  can  bear  toward  Him. 


WOULD  you  think  that  man  fit  for  a  hero  who  should 
occupy  the  leisure  of  peace  in  telling  what  hard  commis- 
sions he  had  during  the  last  campaign,  how  tired  he  was 
on  the  march,  and  how  painful  it  was  to  wear  his  armor? 
Would  you  think  that  man  fit  for  a  hero  who  should  thus 
rehearse  all  the  petty  annoyances  that  he  experienced  in 
the  camp  and  on  the  battle-field  ?  What  idea  would  you 
have  of  a  general  or  a  soldier  who  should  be  more 
thoughtful  of  such  contemptible  personalities  than  of 
those  things  that  pertain  to  the  interests  of  the  cause  in 
which  he  is  engaged  ?  You  that  are  called  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  and  made  to  know  the  eternal  obligation 
of  your  own  souls ;  you  into  whose  hands  are  put  jewels 
more  precious  and  glowing  than  stars  in  the  heavens; 
you  who  are  made  God's  instruments  for  redeeming  men, 
you  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  talk  about  your  cares  and 
responsibilities,  as  if  they  were  onerous  things.  The 
permission  for  laboring  for  God's  cause  is  undeserved, 


288  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  granted  by  His  free  grace,  and  yet  you  are  moaning 
and  repining  about  your  sufferings  !  Either  die,  or  else 
work  and  hold  your  peace  about  your  sufferings  ! 

I  HAVE  seen  the  vision  of  Christ  a  thousand  times  as  I 
•wanted  to  see  Him.  I  have  seen  the  vision  of  Christ 
bend  over  me  with  tenderness.  I  have  seen  the  vision 
of  Christ  instruct  me  with  divine  wisdom  and  radiant 
knowledge.  I  have  seen  the  vision  of  Christ  standin^ 

o  o 

up  as  the  advocate  of  the  poor,  and  the  defender  of  the 
wronged.  I  have  seen  the  vision  of  Christ  clothed  with 
clouds  ;  and  I  have  seen  those  clouds  changed  to  gor- 
geous colors  of  glory.  I  have  seen  ten  thousand  visions 
pictured  of  Christ  Jesus ;  but  I  have  never  yet  seen  Him  ! 
There  is  a  day  coming  when  I  shall  see  Him  as  He  is ; 
not  as  I  feign  Him  to  be  ;  not  as  my  heart  paints  Him  ; 
not  as  my  wants  interpret  Him  ;  but  as  He  is  !  In  that 
illustrious  day  I  shall  have  no  fear.  Chief  among  ten 
thousand,  He  shall  then  be  precious  to  me,  and  forever 
and  forever  my  heart's  treasure  and  my  soul's  delight. 
Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus,  —  come  quickly  ! 


HAD  you  a  mother  that  was  a  woman  of  God  ?  and 
was  faithful  ?  Do  you  scarcely  dare  to  look  back  and 
think  of  the  instructions  which,  upon  her  knee,  you  re- 
ceived ?  I  have  hope  for  you ;  not  because  you  are 
good,  —  you  are  base  and  most  unworthy ;  but,  O,  the 
power  of  a  mother  with  God,  —  it  is  great !  And  I 
believe  that  for  the  children  that  are  consecrated  in  the  • 
lap  and  bosom  of  maternal  love,  there  is  hope  until 
they  pass  away,  and  the  whole  scene  closes.  The  whole 
world  may  seem  to  thwart  her  counsels,  rising  up  against 
them;  but  I  think  there  is  a  golden  thread,  which  a* 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  289 

mother's  love  spins,  that  will  not  be  broken.  Tossed 
about  like  a  gossamer,  it  may  be  tangled,  and  apparently 
broken  and  gone  ;  but  by  and  by,  when  storms  come, 
and  the  sea  roars,  and  the  heavens  are  black,  something 
is  seen  beginning  to  hold  the  drifting  human  heart.  And 
then  it  shall  appear  that,  stronger  than  hempen  cable  or 
iron  chain,  a  mother's  teachings  and  love  hold  fast  the 
imperilled  heart,  and  it  rides  out  the  swelling  gale,  and  is 
found,  even  if  crippled  and  damaged,  yet  safe  anchored 
at  length  on  a  tranquil  sea.  Great  is  the  promise  and 
great  the  hope. 

THERE  are  some  persons  who  seem  so  constituted  that 
their  religious  feelings  almost  never  flow  so  readily  as 
when  they  act  for  other  people.  They  are  persons  of 
great  constitutional  benevolence.  They  make  benevo- 
lence their  conscience.  When  they  go  forth  into  life, 
benevolence  is  their  guiding  principle.  Such  persons 
oftentimes  say,  "  I  never  can  have  deep  religious  feelings 
by  ordinary  means  ;  but  when  such  a  man  was  in  trouble, 
and  told  me  of  the  wants  of  his  family,  —  his  wife  and 
children,  —  and  I  took  my  hat  and  went  home  with  him, 
and  mingled  my  tears  with  theirs,  it  did  seem  as  if  I  was 
not  a  handbreadth  from  heaven.  I  never  had  such  a 
sense  of  the  goodness  of  God  as  I  had  then."  Probably 
you  were  never  so  near  like  God  as  you  were  then.  No 
wonder  you  felt  near  Him.  You  are  not  far  from  Him 
when  you  get  so  near  Him  as  to  give  your  time  and  en- 
ergies for  the  good  of  His  needy  creatures. 


DID  you  ever,  in  a  summer's  day,  when  you  had  drawn 
from  the  bottom  of  the  well  the  cooling  draught  to  slake 
your  thirst,  stand  and  dream,  and  gaze  at  a  drop,  orbed 
13  s 


290  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  hanging  from  the  bucket's  edge,  reflecting  the  light 
of  the  sun  ?  What  the  rounded  form  and  size  of  that 
drop  is  in  comparison  with  the  whole  earth  itself,  that 
the  round  earth  itself  is  in  comparison  with  God's  maj- 
esty of  being  or  degree  of  magnitude  !  And  that  such 
an  One,  living  in  such  a  wise,  —  so  far  above  the  earth, 
so  far  above  its  inhabitants,  so  far  above  the  noblest  spirit 
that  stands  in  the  unlost  purity  of  heaven,  — that  such  an 
One  should  deal  with  His  erring  creature  with  a  gentle- 
ness and  patience,  such  as  characterizes  the  administra- 
tion of  God  toward  man,  is  sublime  and  wonderful ! 


THE  Bible  says  that  God  is  past  finding  out.  But  it 
does  not  mean  that  His  physical  power  is  past  finding 
out.  It  is  His  disposition,  His  moral  nature,  that  are 
beyond  research  and  measurement  The  unsearchable- 
ness  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus ;  the  greatness, 
the  grandeur,  and  the  glory  of  the  Heart  that,  hating  in- 
iquity with  an  intense  hatred,  can  love  the  doer  of  it,  and 
that,  abhorring  sin  with  an  infinite  abhorrence,  can  give 
itself  to  save  the  sinner,  —  these  are  the  things  that  are 
past  finding  out.  The  marvel  of  meeknes?,  and  sweet- 
ness, and  love  in  the  arch-Thunderer  of  eternity,  —  this 
it  is  that  is  past  finding  out ! 


THERE  are  a  great  many  persons  who  think,  "  I  must 
take  care  of  my  religion."  They  have  got  something  that 
they  call  religion,  which  they  conceive  needs  to  be 
guarded.  Just  as  if  I  should  say,  "  I  must  take  care  of 
my  health,"  and  should  yet  neglect  my  body,  so  that  my 
nerves  were  out  of  order,  and  my  heart  was  out  of  right 
beat,  thinking  that  I  had  something  distinct  from  the 
body,  which  was  health ;  whereas  health  means  a  body 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  291 

acting  right  in  every  one  of  its  parts  !  And  religion  is  to 
the  soul  what  health  is  to  the  body,  —  it  is  the  right  or- 
dering of  all  the  faculties.  Many  persons  think  it  is  con- 
fined to  certain  faculties,  which  must  be  set  buzzing  at 
particular  times.  They  treat  it  very  much  as  a  boy 
would  a  caged  bird.  They  keep  their  religion  at  home 
all  the  week,  and  on  Sunday  they  go  and  slip  it  into  the 
cage,  and  let  it  sing ;  but  its  voice  is  hushed  the  moment 
they  take  it  out.  They  say  that  you  must  not  act  out- 
side of  the  ohurch  in  a  way  that  is  inconsistent  with  your 
religion,  or  violate  it,  but  that  you  are  not  to  mind  right 
living.  Their  religion  is  a  certain  spiritual  partialism. 
They  skin  off  and  set  aside  a  part  of  their  nature,  and 
regard  that  as  the  element  of  religion.  How  many  times 
do  men  carry  this  thing  to  such  an  excess,  that  it  becomes 
a  glaring  absurdity  before  the  world  ! 

There  is  this  damnable  heresy,  that  religion  is  a  tech- 
nical element,  which  you  can  separate  from  a  man's  throb- 
bing life !  Why,  whatever  you  do  at  twelve  at  night,  or 
at  twelve  in  the  daytime  ;  whatever  you  do  at  six  in  the 
morning,  or  at  six  in  the  evening ;  whatever  you  do  on 
the  Sabbath,  or  on  any  week-day  ;  whatever  you  do  in  the 
ship,  or  in  the  blacksmith's  shop  ;  whatever  you  do  in 
the  house,  or  in  the  street ;  whatever  you  do  in  the  sanc- 
tuary, or  at  the  concert ;  whatever  you  do  at  any  time,  or 
in  any  place,  you  are  to  do  to  the  glory  of  God.  By  as 
much  as  you  come  short  of  doing  this,  by  so  much  is  your 
religion  deficient. 


CLOSET  meditations  and  devotions  which  used  to  char- 
acterize piety,  are  far  less  common  than  they  were.  In 
old  times,  when  men  were  persecuted  for  their  religion, 
they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  read  the  Bible,  and  pray, 


292  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  be  burned,  and  what  not.  And  in  our  own  day,  in 
our  childhood,  the  Bible  was  the  principal  part  of  the 
library  that  we  cared  to  read.  Since  that  time  there  has 
been  created  an  enormous  literature  ;  and  no  man  is  too 
poor  to  have  it  in  his  house.  It  carries  with  it  great 
blessings.  To  be  enfranchised  from  ignorance  is,  of  it- 
self, no  small  blessing.  But  with  all  the  collateral  bless- 
ings of  this  literature  upon  the  world,  there  are  some 
side  dangers  to  be  guarded  against.  The  mind  may  be 
diluted.  Men  are  covered  over  with  papers,  novels,  and 
books,  as  fences  are  covered  with  vines  and  weeds.  The 
time  consumed  is  not  the  chief  evil ;  but  the  perversion 
of  taste,  the  destruction  of  a  hearty  relish  for  the  sober 
certainties  and  solemnities  of  God's  Word.  We  have 
fallen  off  immensely  on  the  side  of  religious  culture,  — 
earnest,  prolonged,  habitual,  domestic,  religious  culture, 
conducted  by  the  reading  of  God's  Word  and  by  prayer 
and  its  family  influences.  And  this  tendency  is  still  fur- 
ther augmented  by  the  increase  of  religious  books,  of 
tracts,  of  biographies  and  histories,  of  commentaries, 
which  tend  to  envelop  and  hide  the  Word  of  God  from 
our  minds.  In  other  words,  these  things  which  are  called 
"  helps  "  have  been  increased  to  such  a  degree,  and  have 
come  to  occupy  so  much  of  our  attention,  that  when  we 
have  read  our  helps,  we  have  no  time  left  to  read  the 
thing  to  be  helped ;  and  the  Bible  is  covered  down  and 
lost  under  its  "  helps."  Far  be  it  from  me  to  say  that 
we  are  worse  off  with  all  the  books  in  our  libraries  than 
we  would  be  without  them  ;  but  while  we  are  to  have  the 
benefits  of  these,  we  are  to  mark  the  tendency  to  which 
I  allude. 


O,  HOAV  many  different  ways  there  are  by  which  God 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  293 

comes  into  the  soul !  The  great  God,  so  prolific  of 
thought,  so  endless  in  diversity  of  function,  has  a  million 
ways  by  which  to  express  Himself.  He,  in  His  power, 
works  on  the  soul  not  through  one  thing  alone,  —  not 
alone  through  steeple,  nor  meeting-house,  nor  lecture- 
room,  nor  closet,  though  often  and  much  through  these  ; 
but  through  all  things,  —  through  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  animals,  and  insects,  and  worms,  and  clouds,  and 
mountains,  and  oceans,  and  rivers,  and  the  productions 
of  the  earth ;  and  not  by  these  only,  but  by  everything 
that  affects  man's  comfort  and  happiness  in  this  life,  —  by 
store  and  anvil,  and  plane  and  saw,  and  hospital  and  poor- 
house,  and  music  and  forms  of  beauty,  and  sweet  feelings 
and  trials,  and  sufferings  and  victories  over  temptation, 
and  light  and  darkness,  and  joy  and  sorrow,  and  ten  thou- 
sand unnamable  subtle  influences  that  touch  the  human 
soul ;  by  all  these  God  reveals  His  greatness  and  good- 
ness to  us,  that  He  may  win  us  to  Himself,  and  make  us 
heirs  of  immortality ;  and,  blessed  be  His  name,  not  to  us 
alone,  but  to  every  one,  everywhere  ! 


THERE  is  a  strange  law  of  vicarious  suffering  wrought 
into  the  very  structure  of  human  life.  The  child  does  not 
come  singing  like  a  cherub  from  the  hand  of  God.  The 
mother  cries,  and  the  child  cries,  and  men  say,  "  A  man 
is  born."  It  is  suffering  that  gives  life,  and  then  it  is 
suffering  that  is  worn  as  a  robe  for  life.  For  every  one 
that  has  been  ministered  unto ;  for  every  one  that  has 
been  educated ;  for  every  one  that  has  been  advanced  by 
development  through  the  stages  -of  animalism  up  to  the 
social  element  and  the  moral  sentiments,  —  for  every  such 
one  there  have  been  some  to  suffer.  Our  thrift  and  ad- 
vancement in  moral  things  are  the  result  of  the  sufferings 


294  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

of  others.  To  say  that  we  are  morally  developed  is  sy- 
nonymous with  saying  that  we  have  reaped  what  some 
one  has  suffered  for  us.  There  is  no  friend  that  does  not 
suffer  for  friend.  It  may  almost  be  said  that  we  measure 
friendship,  not  by  excess  of  joy,  but  by  joyfulness  of  suf- 
fering one  for  another.  There  is  no  good  accomplished 
that  is  not  accomplished  through  the  medium  of  some- 
body's suffering.  No  great  thought  was  ever  born  that 
was  not  born  through  suffering.  No  great  principle  was 
ever  wrought  out  except  by  toil  and  trouble  and  suffering. 
No  great  truth  was  ever  applied  to  the  cause  of  morals 
in  this  world  that  was  not  accompanied  by  suffering  pro- 
portionate to  the  good  that  it  effected.  God  measures 
the  magnitude  of  blessings  by  the  sufferings  that  men  are 
willing  to  bear  for  the  sake  of  attaining  them. 

"When  in  the  peace  and  serene  joy  of  the  tranquil 
household  children  sit  round  about  the  encircled  table, 
how  little  do  they  know  that  all  their  delight  and  all 
their  sweet  peace  has  been  purchased  by  midnight  vigils, 
by  maternal  tears,  by  parental  strivings  with  God !  We 
that  buy  our  joy  and  peace  by  trouble  sow  seeds.  Tears 
are  God's  seeds.  They  come  up  joys.  It  might  almost 
be  said  that  groans  are  the  key-notes  of  joy  on  earth. 
"Weakness  is  the  beginning  of  strength ;  humility,  of 
exaltation  ;  shame,  of  glory  ;  toil,  of  ease. 

Men  seem  to  set  themselves  against  the  monstrous  in- 
justice, as  they  call  it,  of  Christ's  bearing  the  sins  of  the 
world.  They  seem  to  revolt  at  the  idea  of  the  just  suf- 
fering for  the  unjust.  They  seem  to  think  that  this  is  a 
thing  that  cannot  be  either  illustrated  or  proved  by  the 
moral  sentiment  of  men.  But  I  declare  that  there  is  in 
social  life  an  illustration  of  the  principle  of  vicarious 
Buffering.  As  Christ  suffered  for  the  world,  so  one  man 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  295 

suffers  for  another  man.  And  in  our  joy  we  reap  the 
fruit  of  what  others  suffer.  The  example  of  Christ  is 
but  a  symbol  and  magnificent  type  of  that  which  we  in 
our  several  spheres  find  out  in  the  details  of  life. 


WHERE,  in  all  the  round  of  human  experience,  worthy 
men  suffer,  not  from  an  accident,  not  under  penalty,  but 
for  the  sake  of  emancipating  themselves  or  others  from 
an  evil ;  where  they  suffer  for  the  sake  of  advancing  a 
truth  or  establishing  a  nobler  principle  in  their  own  life 
or  in  the  lives  of  others,  every  tear,  every  watching, 
every  weariness,  every  groan,  every  sorrow,  every  exclu- 
sion, every  self-denial,  every  pain,  is  known,  is  registered, 
and  will  ever  be  remembered  and  honored.  Our  suffer- 
ings seem  barren  here,  but  when  we  see  them  blossom  in 
heaven  we  shall  not  know  them.  Here  they  are  like 
sharp  thorns;  there  they  will  be  like  flowers  waving 
in  the  garden.  We  see  the  seed-form,  the  sprout-form, 
of  our  troubles,  we  see  our  troubles  without  comeliness 
or  beauty ;  but  when  God  shall  have  developed  their 
full  growth  and  symmetry  in  heaven,  how  different  they 
will  seem  to  us ! 


A  GREAT  many  persons  deny  themselves  with  the 
most  superfluous  self-denial.  They  seek  for  things  of 
which  they  can  deny  themselves.  But  you  need  not  do 
that.  Let  your  opportunities  for  self-denial  come  to  you  ; 
but  when  they  do  come,  do  not  flinch.  God  will  send 
you  occasions  enough  for  denying  yourself.  There  is 
wood  enough  in  every  man's  forest  to  build  all  the  cares 
he  will  need  to  carry.  You  need  not  withhold  yourself 
from  any  proper  joy  ;  but  when  for  the  sake  of  honesty, 
or  benevolence,  or  love,  or  purity,  or  truth,  it  is  needed 


296  .     ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

that  you  should  suffer,  step  boldly  forward,  even  if  to  do 
so  is  to  go  into  fire.  The  form  of  Christ  will  be  by  your 
side,  and  the  smell  of  the  fire  shall  not  be  on  your  gar- 
ments. 


ONE  would  suppose  that  there  had  never  been  a  printed 
Bible  in  some  men's  houses.  Some  men  do  not  appear 
to  have  any  conception  of  the  sufferings  of  their  Lord 
and  Master.  There  are  parents  that  seem  to  think  that 
their  life  is  well  worn  out  and  worthily  bestowed,  if  they 
spend  it  in  accumulating  a  fortune.  And  for  what  ?  To 
save  their  children  from  the  toil  that  they  have  endured. 
But  what  made  the  parents  ?  "What  made  your  arm 
stalwart,  and  your  head  clear  and  discriminating  ?  What 
was  it  that  made  your  life  patient  and  enduring  ?  What 
was  it  that  made  you  a  force  among  men,  accomplishing 
and  achieving?  What  was  it  but  that  very  necessity 
from  which  you  wish  to  hide  your  children  ?  Ah  !  your 
trouble  was  your  armor,  as  well  as  your  arms,  and  yet 
you  would  send  your  children  down  into  the  battle  of  life 
naked,  with  nothing  to  cover  them !  There  are  a  great 
many  whose  thought,  by  day  and  by  night,  is,  "  How 
shall  we  put  our  children  in  a  position  of  honor  and  ease 
and  comfort?"  The  wish  of  Christian  parents,  often- 
times, is,  not  that  their  children  shall  be  less  than  virtu- 
ous, but  that,  being  virtuous  and  pious,  they  shall  be 
where  no  hardships  shall  be  able  to  come  to  them.  O, 
if  the  cherished  ones  of  their  bosom  could  be  placed  be- 
yond contention  and  hidden  from  strife ;  if  they  could  be 
lifted  above  the  necessity  of  going  forth  to  toil  and  con- 
flict, the  great  desire  of  their  life  would  be  realized  ! 

What  God-blighted  children  such  children  must  be ! 
What  a  baptism  of  desire  is  that  which  you  put  on  your 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  297 

children,  —  you  that  wish  to  shield  them  from  trials  and 
cares !  You  are  like  the  mother  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
who  went  to  the  Saviour,  and  said,  "  Grant  that  these  my 
two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  the  other 
on  the  left  in  thy  kingdom."  Not  understanding  that 
solemn  response,  "  Are  ye  able  to  drink  of  the  cup  that  I 
shall  drink  of,  and  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I 
am  baptized  with  ?  "  you  want  honor  and  distinction  for 
your  children,  but  you  do  not  want  that  they  should  be 
exposed  to  that  strife  out  of  which  these  things  must 
inevitably  come. 

THERE  are  a  great  many  persons  who  think  themselves 
equipped  to  do  good,  but  who  can  find  no  proper  place 
wherein  to  exercise  the  eminent  gifts  which  it  has  pleased 
the  bounty  of  Providence  to  confer  upon  them.  They 
are  so  elegant,  so  refined,  that  it  is  a  pity  that  they  should 
go  among  the  vulgar !  They  are  so  large  in  their  expe- 
rience and  reading,  that  it  is  a  pity  that  they  should  go 
into  societies  where  people  have  circumscribed  ideas ! 
They  have  such  gentility  on  their  side,  that  it  is  a  pity 
that  they  should  go  into  a  place  where  folks  are  not  gen- 
teel! And  so  these  martyrs,  these  reformers,  these 
would-be  ministers  of  God's  Word  to  this  lost  world,  are 
unable  to  find  a  place  suitable  for  them  to  labor  in ! 

Have  you  never  seen,  at  sunset,  a  hen  walking  around 
a  tree  irresolute  as  to  the  bough  which  she  would  take, 
stooping  for  one,  and  then  quitting  that  and  stooping  for 
another,  and  then  quitting  that  and  stooping  for  another  ? 
Just  like  such  a  hen  are  some  ministers  that  I  have  seea 
running  about  for  a  settlement,  stooping  for  one,  and  then, 
thinking  that  it  was  not  quite  good  enough,  quitting  it 
and  stooping  for  another,  thus  frittering  away  their  time 

13* 


298  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  energies  to  no  purpose.  Let  such  men  turn  away 
at  once  from  the  camp  of  God,  and  go  to  the  camp  of  the 
world.  There  they  belong.  They  are  not  ministers  of 
God  whose  prime  thought  is  as  to  how  they  shall  serve 
God  without  incommoding  themselves,  and  how  they  shall 
redeem  men  without  suffering  in  anywise  for  them. 


WHEN  men  have  befriended  us,  suffered  for  us,  perilled 
themselves  for  us,  the  whole  of  every  noble  feeling  with- 
in us  rises  up  and  pours  out  like  a  flood  from  the  temple 
of  the  soul,  and  we  go  to  them  with  beneficences  and 
benefactions.  So  it  is  with  men,  —  men  that  yet  are 
selfish,  that  are  proud,  that  are  circumscribed  in  all 
good. 

What,  then,  must  be  the  nature  of  the  same  feeling 
when  it  issues  out  of  the  heart  of  the  infinite  God,  and 
manifests  itself  in  the  immensity  of  His  generosity,  and 
the  glory  of  His  magnanimity  ? 

How  wonderful  is  it,  in  the  first  place,  that  God  should 
be  pleased  to  accept  as  suffering  for  Him,  the  things 
which  we  suffer  in  the  warfare  of  our  dispositions  in  life ! 
How  wonderful  is  that  grace  that  watches  the  whole 
earth,  that  sees  all  the  innumerable  sufferings  of  men, 
however  hidden,  obscure,  or  out-of-the-way  they  may  be, 
and  marks  every  tear  and  every  heart-throb,  and  with 
wonderful  magnanimity  says,  "These  sufferings  are  for 
me  ! "  How  wonderful  is  that  grace  by  which  God  iden- 
tifies Himself  with  the  poor,  with  striving  and  struggling 
sinful  men  who  are  seeking  emancipation,  taking  as  ben- 
efactions offered  to  Himself  all  things  that  we  do  or  risk 
for  ourselves  or  for  our  fellow-men !  And  what,  think 
you,  will  be  the  wonder  of  God's  heart  when  He  pours 
forth  from  it  tides  of  gratitude  ? 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  299 

When  God  wished  to  express  His  thoughts  of  taste,  He 
filled  the  heaven,  the  earth,  and  the  sea  with  beauties 
varied  and  innumerable.  When  God  wished  to  speak 
His  ideas  of  skill,  He  covered  the  globe  with  wonderful 
and  exquisite  structures  of  animals  and  birds  and  insects. 
When  God  wished  to  display  His  wisdom,  He  created  the 
universe,  in  all  its  various  parts,  and  with  its  multitudi- 
nous relations.  And  if  God  writes  such  a  handwriting  as 
that,  if  such  are  the  ways  in  which  He  is  wont  to  express 
Himself  in  this  world,  what  will  be  the  sweep  of  His  soul 
when  with  honor  and  glory  He  remunerates  those  who 
have  suffered  for  Him  ? 


I  AM  ashamed  when  I  think  how  we  find  dissatisfaction 
where  we  should  find  satisfaction ;  how  we  extract  bitter- 
ness where  we  should  find  sweetness ;  how  we  create 
stench  where  we  should  find  perfume ;  how  we  strive 
to  make  ourselves  unhappy  in  the  very  relations  where 
God  meant  that  we  should  be  blissful.  I  am  ashamed  to 
think  how  we  find  argument  for  sullenness,  for  complaint, 
and  even  for  charge  against  God,  who  has  rounded  out 
the  world  in  mercy,  fed  us  with  His  bounty,  and  clothed 
us  personally  in  kindness.  When  I  think  how  God  has 
borne  in  upon  our  spiritual  life  the  promises  of  help,  and 
fulfilled  those  promises  from  day  to  day,  from  week  to 
week,  from  month  to  month,  and  from  year  to  year,  and 
how  we  have  met  the  acts  of  His  goodness  toward  us  with 
selfishness,  and  pride,  and  complaints,  I  am  ashamed  of 
myself  and  of  my  kind.  God  has  not  deserved  such  treat- 
ment at  our  hands. 


You  never  know,  till  you  try  to  reach  them,  how  ac- 
cessible men  are ;  and  if,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  pro- 


300  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

mote  their  eternal  welfare,  you  seek  to  bring  them  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  you  shall  find  that  outside  of 
churches,  and  outside  of  ordinary  iufluences,  by  the  mys- 
tery of  providence,  as  well  as  by  the  mystery  of  grace, 
God  is  working  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  preparing  them 
to  be  gathered  by  us  into  His  fold. 

It  is  said  that  at  the  battle  of  Solferino,  what  with  the 
fear  of  being  crushed,  what  with  the  mortal  fear  of  the 

O  ' 

barbarity  of  the  French  soldiers,  of  which  they  had  heard, 
hundreds  of  wounded  men  crept  out  of  the  fields  into  ra- 
vines, and  coppices,  and  thickets ;  that  after  three  days 
had  been  passed  in  searching  for  them,  many  were  still 
lying  unfound.  Many  were  found  so  far  spent  that  they 
died  ere  they  could  be.  taken  to  the  hospital. 

There  are  hundreds  of  men  hiding  themselves  in  ra- 
vines, and  coppices,  and  thickets,  on  the  battle-field  of  life, 
who  need  medicament,  healing,  care,  and  consolation ;  and 
if  you  were  to  go  out  searching  for  them,  you  should  ev- 
ery day  find  men,  here  and  there,  crying  out  in  their  dis- 
tress, and  asking  for  sympathy  and  help. 


THERE  is  an  army  of  memorable  sufferers  who  suffer 
inwardly,  and  not  outwardly.  The  world's  battle-fields 
have  been  in  the  heart  chiefly.  More  heroism  has  there 
been  displayed  in  the  household  and  in  the  closet,  I  think, 
than  on  the  most  memorable  military  battle-fields  of  his- 
tory. 

One  of  Kaulbach's  most  remarkable  paintings  is  founded 
on  a  legend,  that  on  a  certain  anniversary  spirits  were  in 
the  habit  of  assembling  and  fighting  in  the  air.  However 
that  may  be,  the  battles  of  the  spirits  and  the  battles  of 
the  air,  in  the  Christian  conflict,  are  much  more  memo- 
rable than  any  of  the  declared  battles  of  sense  and  of  the 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  301 

body.  And  although  these  spiritual  and  airy  battles  seem 
to  be  without  trumpet,  and  without  record,  and  without 
a  witness ;  although  there  are  no  poets  that  chant  the 
praise  of  the  closet ;  although  there  are  no  historians  that 
chronicle  the  conflicts  of  a  man  with  his  own  spirit,  with 
pernicious  habits,  with  evil  inclinations,  with  violent  temp- 
tations ;  although  the  eye  of  a  man  cannot  see  these 
things,  yet  they  are  not  unwatched.  Angel  eyes  see  what 
our  eyes  are  too  gross  to  see.  God,  over  all,  takes  notice 
of  everything  that  concerns  us.  We  are  His  children, 
and  He  hangs  over  us  in  love  as  a  mother  over  the  cra- 
dle. He  sees  our  sufferings,  and  will  remember  them. 


IT  is  a  great  thing  to  have  been  put  into  this  life 
through  a  right  gate.  If  it  be  a  golden  gate,  covered  all 
over  with  glorious  inscriptions  and  legends  and  memories 
of  past  goodness,  no  man  can  thank  God  enough.  Did 
your  mother  travail  in  faith  and  prayer  ?  Were  you  born 
amid  supplications  ?  Were  songs,  not  of  angels,  but  of 
one  scarcely  less  than  angelic,  round  about  your  advent  ? 
Were  you  baptized  in  your  cradle  before  priestly  hands 
made  aspersion  of  water  ?  Did  you  come  forth  into  life 
from  out  of  a  household  of  faith  ?  It  is  no  small  thing 
that  God  nested  you  thus,  and  that  He  gave  you  such  a 
parentage  and  such  a  beginning  in  life.  Have  you  ever 
made  it  an  object  of  thought  ? 


AMONG  the  Alps,  when  the  day  is  done,  and  twilight 
and  darkness  are  creeping  over  fold  and  hamlet  in  the 
valleys  below,  Mont  Rosa  and  Mont  Blanc  rise  up'  far 
above  the  darkness,  catching  from  the  retreating  sun 
something  of  his  light,  flushed  with  rose-color,  exquisite 
beyond  all  words  or  pencil  or  paint,  glowing  like  the  gate 
of  heaven. 


302  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

And  so  past  favors  and  kindnesses  lift  themselves  up  in 
the  memory  of  noble  natures,  and  long  after  the  lower 
parts  of  life  are  darkened  by  neglect,  or  selfishness,  or 
anger,  former  loves,  high  up  above  all  clouds,  glow  with 
divine  radiance,  and  seem  to  forbid  the  advance  of  night 
any  further. 

IF  your  God  is  made  out  of  conceptions  derived  from 
the  great  and  heartless  round  of  the  natural  world  ;  if  you 
have  a  great  crystalline  God,  such  as  philosophy  deduces 
from  the  material  globe,  you  can  conceive  of  no  such  thing 
as  His  detracting  from  His  dignity  by  coming  down  to 
burrow,  as  you  call  it,  in  this  lower  sphere.  If  you  have 
a  God  whom  mountains  represent,  or  if  you  have  a  vast 
marble  God,  that  sits  as  the  central  idol  of  the  universe, 
it  is  to  you  contemptible  to  think  of  His  bowing  down 
and  coming  among  men  ! 

But  if  you  have  a  God  fashioned  from  the  elements 
revealed  in  the  human  soul,  if  you  understand  that  great- 
ness in  the  Divine  Being  does  not  mean  muscular  great- 
ness, nor  physical  greatness,  but  purity,  and  depth,  and 
scope  of  all  the  feelings  of  the  heart,  then  the  greater 
your  God  is,  the  more  exquisite  will  be  the  things  He 
will  do  in  detail,  the  more  possibility  will  there  be  of 
His  descending  and  coming  among  men,  and  the  more 
certainly  will  He  be  expected  to  be  found  among  His 
family.  As  the  mother  is  found  where  her  child  cries, 
and  as  the  father  is  found  where  his  son  stumbles,  so  we 
should  expect  that,  if  God  is  a  being  whom  we  may  know 
from  the  analogies  of  our  own  nature,  He  would  be  found 
living  where  men  are  tempted,  and  where  they  sin,  and 
suffer,  and  die. 

This  is  the  whole  New  Testament  view  of  Christ     It 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  303 

springs   naturally  and   inevitably  from   a   God  who   is 
Father.     It  cannot  be  grafted  on  any  other  view. 


IF  you  measure  any  religious  proceeding  according  to 
the  highest  standard  of  the  mind,  there  is  nothing  this 
side  of  Calvary  that  can  be  looked  upon  with  compla- 
cency. The  whole  reformatory  work  of  mankind  goes 
on,  and  ever  has  gone  on,  imperfectly.  The  world  is 
full  of  imperfection.  And  no  person  should  measure 
things  by  strict  propriety.  Religious  courses  should  not 
be  measured  by  it.  Such  courses  are  scoffed  at  by  men 
because  they  are  so  full  of  imperfections.  They  are  full 
of  imperfections,  —  as  full  as  summer  woods  are  of  flies  ; 
as  full  as  the  harvest-field  is  of  worms ;  as  full  as  the 
corn-field  is  of  mildewed  ears ;  as  full  as  nature  is  of 
rudenesses.  The  tropics  bear,  the  temperate  zones  bear, 
the  extreme  zones  bear  beautiful  flowers  and  delicious 
fruits,  and  the  earth  is  full  of  evidences  of  God's  good- 
ness ;  although  there  is  bark,  although  there  are  poison 
insects  and  noisome  things,  although  there  are  cutting 
edges  of  rocks,  although  there  are  morasses,  and  although 
there  is  miasma. 

Carrion-crows  and  turkey-buzzards  are  the  only  things 
that  like  carrion,  and  hunt  for  it.  And  where  I  see  men 
going  round  and  watching  for  faults  and  imperfections, 
and  seeing  nothing  good,  I  mark  those  men,  "  Turkey- 
buzzards  and  carrion-crows."  For  the  dove  shall  fly 
through  that  sunlit  air  that  reveals  naught  but  loathsome 
corruption  to  the  crow  and  the  buzzard,  and  shall  see  no 
carrion,  and  only  blossoming  growths  and  sweet  fields. 
What  you  see,  depends  upon  the  eye  with  which  you  look. 
If  your  eye  is  gangrene,  you  will  see  only  putrefying 
gores.  And  if  a  man  wants  to  see  evil  things,  he  can  see 


304  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

enough  of  them,  —  in  ministers  ;  in  churc  lies  ;  in  sects, 
new  or  old ;  in  professed  Christiana  that  do  not  hold  out ; 
or  in  professed  Christians  that  do  hold  out,  O,  how  queerly  ! 
For  men  are  crazy  and  sick.  The  whole  world  is  an  hos- 
pital. The  best  men  walk  like  men  just  trying  to  walk. 
And  what  would  you  think  of  a  man  that  should  stand  at 
the  door  of  an  hospital,  and  laugh  till  he  could  not  hold 
to  the  door-post  at  the  men  that  had  been  cured  and 
discharged  ?  There  comes  a  man  with  one  leg ;  there 
comes  another  staggering '  from  the  effects  of  a  wound 
that  has  made  him  a  cripple  for  life ;  there  comes  anoth- 
er whose  face  was  burnt  and  scarred  by  the  powder-flash 
in  battle,  because  he  was  so  close  to  the  enemy,  before 
\vhom  he  would  not  retreat ;  and  what  would  you  think 
of  a  man  who  should  stand  and  look  at  them,  and  laugh, 
and  say,  "  Cured !  cured !  That  is  the  beauty  of  health, 
is  it?" 

Now,  the  world  is  full  of  invalids.  All  men  are  sick. 
Everybody  is  imperfect,  and  will  be  till  God  gives  us 
final  perfection.  And  what  do  you  think  of  those  men 
that  stand  looking  at  revivals  of  religion,  the  results  of 
God's  influence  in  the  world,  and  only  see  the  scars,  and 
the  staggering,  bloated,  dropsical  forms  of  the  men  that 
emerge  from  them  ?  It  is  pitiful  for  the  men  who  are 
the  subjects  of  them,  but  it  is  a  thousand  times  worse  for 
those  who  are  critics  of  these. 


I  SEE  in  many  churches,  and  among  many  Christians 
and  devout  ministers,  what  seems  to  me  to  be  uninstructed 
wisdom,  or  rather  great  folly.  A  man  supposes  that  he 
is  converted.  They  say,  "  If  he  is  converted,  his  conver- 
sion is  a  work  of  God  ;  and  if  it  is  a  work  of  God,  it  will 
stand.  If  he  holds  out,  we  will  receive  him :  and  if  not, 
he  will  go  back  to  the  world  ! " 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  305 

Suppose  I  had  lain  where  all  night  I  had  heard  the  dis- 
charge of  minute  guns ;  suppose  as  the  morning  dawned  I 
saw  here  and  there  parts  of  a  ship  that  had  sunk ;  sup- 
pose among  the  fragments  I  saw  a  man  that  had  survived 
the  wreck,  and  who,  clinging  to  a  plank,  was  working  his 
way  to  shallow  water ;  suppose  that  as  he  got  off  and 
staggered  toward  the  shore  a  wave  took  him  and  swept 
him  out  again ;  and  suppose  that,  as  he  gathered  his 
remaining  strength  and  got  upon  his  feet  once_more,  and 
made  a  desperate  struggle  to  save  himself  from  a  watery 
grave,  I  sat  and  said  to  myself,  "  I  think  that  fellow  may 
escape :  I  will  watch  him,  and  if  he  succeeds  in  getting 
to  the  shore  and  out  of  the  water,  I  will  take  care  of 
him  "  ?  I  would  deserve  to  be  drowned  tnyself !  If  you 
see  a  fellow-creature  in  a  perilous  situation  like  that  it  is 
your  business  to  rush  down  and  seize  him,  and  give  your 
strength  to  his  weakness,  and  bear  him  so  that  the  reflu- 
ent waves  shall  not  carry  him  back. 

Here  is  a  man  that  has  been  gambling.  In  some  afflic- 
tion he  goes  to  this  or  that  church,  that  perhaps  is  a  god- 
send church  to  him  ;  and  he  says,  "  Would  to  God  that  I 
could  live  a  better  life ! "  Men  seeing  him  there,  say, 
"  I  wonder  what  he  is  here  for ! "  as  if  a  gambler  had  not 
a  soul,  and  had  no  business  in  a  church !  He  weeps ; 
and  they  say,  "  As  sure  as  I  live,  I  saw  the  fellow  cry ! " 
And  it  is  whispered  about  that  he  is  under  conviction  ; 
and  these  good  people  say,  "  God's  grace  is  very  power- 
ful, and  even  this  man  may  be  saved :  we  will  watch  him, 
and  if  he  holds  out  let  us  receive  him,  and  be  kind  to 
him ! "  But  in  the  beginning  when  ten  thousand  fiery 
fiends  are  round  about  him ;  when  his  evil  associates  are 
plucking  at  him ;  when  the  channels  are  yet  deep  in 
which  his  life  has  run  ;  when  hundreds  of  malign  influ- 

T 


306  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

euces  are  crying  out  to  him,  "  Return !  return !  return  ! " 
and  when  God's  call  comes  faint  to  his  ears,  so  that  he  is 
in  doubt  as  to  whether  it  is  God  that  calls,  —  then  is  the 
time  to  run  down  to  him,  and,  if  he  is  not  quite  sincere, 
make  him  so  by  kindness  and  sympathy. 


LET  me  tell  you  that  those  hours  when  you  feel  a 
strange  drawing  toward  that  which  is  pure  and  true  and 
right,  are  hours  of  God's  visitation.  Your  soul  is  not  far 
from  its  Maker  in  such  hours.  Be  grateful  for  those 
periods  of  peculiar  yearning  away  from  evil  and  toward 
good.  Take  them.  They  are  open  doors  to  your  prison- 
house.  Are  there  any  bad  habits,  any  evil  courses  to 
which  you  have  been  addicted,  about  which  you  have 
pondered,  and  of  which  you  have  said,  "  O  that  I  could 
be  set  free  from  them  "  ?  Now  there  will  come  hours, 
probably  before  a  week  passes,  in  which  God  will  say  to 
you,  "  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead, 
and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light."  Venture ;  break  away 
from  your  wicked  ways ;  do  not  wait  till  your  impulses 
are  stronger ;  do  not  wait  till  the  spark  becomes  a  flame ; 
take  a  little,  and  go  to  that  toward  which  it  points.  You 
know  it  was  a  star  that  led  the  wise  men  to  the  place 
where  Jesus  lay.  When  but  a  single  star  shines  from 
that  which  is  right  and  pure  and  true,  follow  it,  and  it 
will  lead  you  to  the  place  where  the  young  child  Jesus 
lies.  Are  there  not  many  in  our  midst  that  are  borne 
down  by  perplexities  of  business,  cares  of  the  family, 
and  trouble  of  various  kinds,  who  feel  themselves  solemn- 
ly called  of  God  to  reformation  of  life,  reformation  of 
morals  ?  Are  there  not  men  that  are  pursuing  secret 
courses  of  undetected  wrong,  who  have  aspirations  to 
lift  themselves  above  their  entanglements  and  besetting 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  3 

sins  ?  Are  there  not  times  that  come  to  some  in  which 
they  reflect  upon  their  wrong  conduct,  and  desire  to  do 
right  ?  These  are  times  of  salvation  to  you  :  I  do  not 
mean  to  men  in  general,  but  to  you,  dishonest  man ;  to 
you,  insincere  man  ;  to  you,  impure  man  ;  to  you,  drink- 
ing man ;  to  you,  sinful,  worldly  nature.  These  times 
when  God  calls,  and  you  cannot  but  hear,  are  your  set 
times  of  salvation,  in  which  God  has  come  with  all-help- 
ful power. 

IT  matters  little  to  me  what  school  of  theology  rises,  or 
what  falls,  so  only  that  Christ  may  rise  and  appear  in  all 
His  Father's  glory,  full-orbed,  upon  the  darkness  of  this 
world  !  It  matters  little  to  me  what  church  comes  forth 
strong,  or  what  becomes  weak,  so  only  that  the  poor,  the 
sinful,  the  neglected,  the  lost  among  men,  may  have  pre- 
sented to  them,  in  the  church,  a  Saviour  accessible, 
reached  easily  by  the  human  understanding,  and  avail- 
able in  every  hour  of  temptation,  of  remorse,  or  of  want ! 


IP  a  man  lives  for  his  own  selfish  enjoyment,  it  makes 
no  difference  that  he  wrongs  no  one.  It  is  wicked  for  a 
man  who  is  blessed  of  God  with  great  intellectual  power, 
and  who  is  born  to  a  station  in  which  he  can  command 
his  support  without  labor,  to  shut  himself  up  in  a  library, 
and  be  a  student,  and  devour  books  for  eighty  years,  even 
though  he  may  never  injure  a  fellow-creature.  To  gor- 
mandize books  is  as  wicked  as  to  gormandize  food.  You 
have  no  more  right  to  be  a  literary  epicure  than  to  be  a 
physical  epicure.  And  if  a  man  makes  his  only  aim  in 
life  scholarship,  and  lives  merely  for  his  own  mental  grat- 
ification, he  is  a  criminal.  If  a  man  follows  art  simply 
for  his  own  pleasure,  he  cannot  justify  himself  by  saying, 


308  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

"  I  never  injured  a  fly."  That  is  not  the  question.  Did 
you  ever  benefit  a  fly  ?  With  all  your  powers  and  oppor- 
tunities, what  have  you  done  for  the  good  of  others  ? 
You  should  give  as  well  as  receive.  "We  are  divinely 
taught  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive ; 
and  we  should  hold  a  man  accursed  in  this  world  just  in 
proportion  as  he  has  capacities  and  opportunities  for  use- 
fulness, if  he  appropriates  those  capacities  and  opportu- 
nities merely  for  his  own  private  enjoyment.  For  if  there 
be  one  truth  taught  in  the  New  Testament  more  emphat- 
ically than  another,  it  is,  that  moral  indifference  to  an- 
other man's  welfare  is  a  sin  and  a  crime.  It  is  not  enough 
to  say,  "  I  have  not  imbrued  my  hand  in  blood ;  I  have 
not  stricken  down  anybody ;  I  have  wronged  nobody." 
Moral  indifference  is  culpable.  The  fact  that  we  are 
stronger  and  better  than  our  fellow-men  does  not  justify 
it.  That  fact  makes  it  more  guilty.  We  have  no  right 
to  live  entirely  for  our  own  sake,  and  not  at  all  for  the 
sake  of  others.  "Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give," 
said  the  Master  to  the  disciples.  He  made  the  benefac- 
tions of  which  they  were  the  recipients,  the  endowments 
which  had  been  conferred  upon  them,  to  be  the  measure 
of  that  which  they  were  to  bestow  upon  others.  Paul 
said,  "  I  am  a  debtor  to  the  Gentiles."  Why  was  he  a 
debtor  to  the  Gentiles  ?  What  did  he  owe  them  ?  Well, 
it  pleased  God  to  give  him  such  abundant  revelations  in 
spiritual  truth  and  life,  that  he  knew  more  than  the  wis- 
est philosophers  and  priests  of  the  Gentiles,  and  he  felt 
himself  to  be  their  debtor  in  the  measure  of  his  superior- 
ity to  them. 

THE  heart  of  God  is  the  world's  hospital;  and  men 
that  have  been  striving  to  get  well  by  medicating  them- 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  309 

selves,  becoming  no  better,  but  rather  growing  worse,  at 
last  gain  this  conception  of  God  as  one  whose  nature  it  is 
to  accept  man,  not  on  account  of  any  arrangement  or  plan 
that  He  has  made,  but  for  the  purpose  of  healing  him. 
When  a  man  lays  his  case. at  the  feet  of  his  Master  and 
says,  "  Lord,  I  am  a  sinner  come  to  be  healed  of  sin," 
with  grace  and  benignity  his  Lord  and  Master  says, 
"Thee  I  accept.  Thou  art  my  child,  I  forgive  the  sins 
thou  hast  committed  in  the  past,  and  accept  thee  for  guid- 
ance, and  education,  and  salvation  in  the  future."  The 
point  of  adhesion  between  the  human  heart  and  the  Sav- 
iour is  just  the  same  as  that  between  the  patient  and  the 
physician,  which  is  the  incompetence  of  the  patient  to 
take  care  of  himself  and  heal  himself.  It  is  his  inability 
to  take  care  of  and  heal  himself  that  leads  the  patient  to 
go  to  the  physician,  that  he  may  be  taken  care  of  and 
healed.  It  is  of  this  that  Christ  speaks  when  He  says, 
"  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that 
are  sick."  "  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sin- 
ners to  repentance." 

WHEN  a  sinner  can  go  to .  Christ  and  say,  "  I  have 
committed  my  soul  to  Thee;  Thou  hast  accepted  it; 
Thou  wert  not  deceived  when  Thou  didst  accept  it ;  Thou 
knewest  what  was  the  strength  of  my  pride  and  vanity  ; 
Thou  knewest  the  whole  gulf-stream  of  selfishness  that 
was  in  me;  Thou  knewest  the  force  of  my  inordinate 
affections;  Thou  knewest  all  the  imperfections  of  my 
nature  ;  there  is  nothing  in  me  that  Thou  didst  not  know; 
Thou  didst  undertake  my  case  with  a  knowledge  of  all 
my  weaknesses  and  wickednesses ;  and  I  am  no  worse 
now  than  when  Thou  didst  take  me.  Thou  art  my  physi- 
cian ;  Thou  art  my  schoolmaster ;  Thou  art  my  guide ; 


310  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

and  in  the  end  Thou  shall  be  my  exceeding  great  reward, 
« —  and  this  not  because  I  am  good,  but  because  Tbou  art 
good."  That  is  enough.  It  will  meet  every  case.  In 
every  exigency  of  life,  Christian  brethren,  this  is  your 
refuge  ;  not  your  own  works  of  righteousness,  not  your 
own  power  to  do  good,  but  O,  the  exhaustless  bounty 
and  power  of  Him  that  has  loved  you  for  His  own  name's 
sake. 


HAVE  you  never  seen  how  when  they  were  finishing 
the  interior  of  buildings  they  kept  the  scaffolding  up  ? 
The  old  Pope,  when  he  had  Michael  Angelo  employed 
in  decorating  the  interior  of  that  magnificent  structure, 
the  Sistine  Chapel,  demanded  that  the  scaffolding  should 
be  taken  down  so  that  he  could  see  the  glowing  colors 
that  with  matchless  skill  were  being  laid  on.  Patiently 
and  assiduously  did  that  noble  artist  labor,  toiling  by  day, 
and  almost  by  night,  bringing  out  his  prophets  and  sibyls, 
and  pictures  wondrous  for  their  beauty  and  significance, 
until  the  work  was  done.  The  day  before  it  was  done,  if 
you  had  gone  into  that  chapel  and  looked  up,  what  would 
you  have  seen  ?  Posts,  planks,  ropes,  lime,  mortar,  slop, 
dirt.  But  when  all  was  finished  the  workmen  came,  and 
the  scaffolding  was  removed.  And  then,  although  the  floor 
was  yet  covered  with  rubbish  and  litter,  when  you  looked 
up  it  was  as  if  heaven  itself  had  been  opened,  and  you 
looked  into  the  courts  of  God  and  angels. 

Now,  the  scaffolding  is  kept  around  men  long  after  the 
fresco  is  commenced  to  be  painted ;  and  wondrous  dis- 
closures will  be  made  when  God  shall  take  down  this 
scaffolding  body,  and  reveal  what  you  have  been  doing. 
By  sorrow  and  by  joy ;  by  joys  which  are  but  bright 
colors,  and  by  sorrows  which  are  but  shadows  of  bright 


ROYAL  TRUTHS.  311 

colors ;  by  prayer ;  by  the  influences  of  the  sanctuary ; 
by  your  pleasures  ;  by  your  business ;  by  reverses ;  by 
successes  and  by  failures  ;  by  what  strengthened  your 
confidence,  and  by  what  broke  it  down  ;  by  the  things 
that  you  rejoiced  in,  and  by  the  things  that  you  mourned 
over,  —  by  all  that  God  is  working  in  you.  And  you  are 
to  be  perfected  not  according  to  the  things  that  you  plan, 
but  according  to  the  Divine  pattern.  Your  portrait  and 
mine  are  being  painted,  and  God  by  wondrous  strokes 
and  influences  is  working  us  up  to  His  own  ideal.  Over 
and  above  what  you  are  doing  for  yourself,  God  is  work- 
ing to  make  you  like  Him.  And  the  wondrous  declara- 
tion is,  that  when  you  stand  before  God  and  see  what 
has  been  done  for  you,  you  shall  be  "  satisfied."  O,  word 
that  has  been  wandering  solitary  and  without  a  habitation 
ever  since  the  world  began,  and  the  morning  stars  sang 
together  for  joy  !  Has  there  ever  been  a  human  crea- 
ture that  could  stand  on  earth  while  clothed  in  the  flesh, 
and  say,  "  I  am  satisfied  "  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  the 
word?  Sufficiently  filled  ;  filled  full ;  filled  up  in  every 
part.  And  when  God's  work  is  complete,  we  shall  stand 
before  Him,  and,  with  the  bright  ideal  and  glorified 
conception  of  heavenly  aspiration  upon  us,  looking  up  to 
God,  and  back  on  ourselves,  we  shall  say,  "  I  am  satis- 
fied " ;  for  we  shall  be  like  Him.  Amen.  Why  should 
we  not  be  satisfied  ? 


THE  work  of  securing  your  salvation  is  a  real  business. 
Not  by  dreaming  ;  not  by  sweet  sentimentalities ;  not  by 
going  into  a  congregation  and  chanting  hymns  that  bless 
God,  and  weeping  at  prayers  that  touch  the  fountains  of 
susceptibility,  and  thinking  airy  thoughts  of  the  past  and 
rosy  thoughts  of  the  future,  —  not  by  these  things  can 


31-2  ROYAL  TRUTHS. 

you  be  saved.  Be  born  again.  Turn  round  and  say, 
—  and  you  might  as  well  say  it,  —  "  The  day  in  which  I 
begin  to  try  to  live  for  God  is  my  birthday." 

0,  blessed  promise  !  0,  wondrous  economy  of  grace ! 
by  which  a  man,  after  having  lived  forty  or  fifty  years  in 
sin,  can  start  again,  God  saying  to  him,  "  I  will  cancel  the 
past ;  we  will  let  that  go  for  nothing ;  you  may  set  up 
business  again,  and  begin  as  if  you  had  never  stumbled 
and  done  wrong."  Is  there  grace  to  help  in  such  a  time 
of  need  ?  Yes.  There  is  a  descending  Spirit  of  God, 
there  is  an  inspiration  of  God,  there  is  a  Divine  power, 
which,  when  you  are  willing  to  be  helped,  will  help  you 
in  every  time  of  need.  God  will  help  a  man  that  will 
help  himself.  Try  it.  Put  God  to  proof,  and  see  if  these 
words  be  not  true. 


WHEN  we  shall  come  to  Zion,  and  stand  before  God, 
it  will  then  plainly  appear  that  of  all  the  myriads  whose 
radiant  faces  shine  like  stars  in  the  firmanjent  there,  not 
one  from  earth  has  come  up  except  by  the  mediation,  the 
patient  instruction,  and  the  forgiving  love  of  the  Redeem- 
er ;  and  we  shall  turn  and  say,  "  Not  unto  us,  but  unto 
thy  name,  be  the  praise  of  our  salvation,  forever  and 
forever ! " 


INDEX. 


PACK 
Abelard  and  Ilcloise,         .         .         .         .         .         .         .145 

Accessibility  of  Men,     .......         299 

Advantage  of  having  a  Rule  of  Life,  .         .         .         .155 

Adversity  the  Test  of  Hope,  .....  9 

All  Things  Naked  and  Open, 56 

American  Slavery  not  Hebrew  Slavery,  but  Roman,         .         127 
Annie  Howard,         ........     101 

Another  Life,        ........         205 

"  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? "  .         .         .     204 

Ashamed  of  Myself, 299 

Aspiration  in  every  Man,  ......       22 

Assaulting  God  through  His  Children,    .         .         .         .         135 

Beethoven's  Eighth  Symphony,          .         .         .         .  .185 

Beginning  Life,    ........  37 

Beware  of  the  Religion  of  the  Counter,       .         .         .  .82 

Bible  and  the  Saddle,  .......  40 

Bobolink,  The,' 205 

Bodily  Organization  Wonderful,    .  37 

Body,  The,  the  Scaffolding  of  the  Soul,      .         .         .  .310 

Bruised  Reed  —  Smoking  Flax,     ...         .•                 .  53 

Burying  the  Casket,  not  the  Jewel,    .*        .         .         .  .195 

"  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"    .         .         .         .  158 

"  Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin  ?  "     .         .-        .         .  267 

Character  makes  Condition,  .         .         .         .         •         .-  259 

Child,  The,  and  his  Playthings, 117 

Child's  First  Doubt  of  its  Parent's  Perfection,  The,          .  131 

Children  come  in  the  Seeming  of  Angels,  ....  132 

Children  of  Fear, •  .  171" 

Christ,  A  Personal,  .         .         .  ' .         .         .  280 


314  INDEX. 

Christ,  A  Precious  Manifestation  of,  .         .         ,         277 

Christ  Better  than  Theology  or  Churches,  ....     307 

Christ  Doing  the  Will  of  His  Father,     ....         235 

Christ's  Awakening  Power,       ......       73 

Christ's  Curative  Relation  to  the  Human  Soul,        .         .         207 
Christ's  Demand  of  Every  Man,         .         .         .         .         .215 

Christ's  Individuality  and  Personality,   ....         237 

Christ's  Life  the  True  Consolation, 130 

Christian  Brotherhood,          .         .         .         .         .         .         177 

Christian  Character  not  an  Inventory  of  Negatives,     .         .       98 
Christian  Contentment  and  Philosophical  Contentment,  .  27 

Christian  Life  and  a  Worldly  Life  Incompatible,  A,    •         .157 
Christian  Life  like  a  Progressive  River,  .         .         .         151 

Christian  Life  not  like  a  Canal, 193 

Christian,  The,  Related  to  all  Men,         .         .         .         .         177 

Christians  Accept  the  Divine  Idea  of  their  Character,  .     262 

Christians  like  Glass  Beehives,      .....  99 

Christians  like  Freight-engines,          .         .         .         .         .277 

Christians  ought  to  be  Warriors,    .....  84 

Christianity  and  Imagination,    .         .         .         .         .         .162 

Christianity  a  System  of  Liberty  and  Joy,       .         .         .         Ill 
Christianity  neither  Duty  nor  Drudgery,    ....     107 

Christianity  Non-repressive  of  Life,        ....  93 

Christianity  not  Asceticism,      ......       81 

Church  making  known  the  Wisdom  of  God,  The,    .         .         190 
Churches  like  Conservatories,    .         .         .         .         .         .159 

Churches  ought  to  be  Lights  of  the  World,     ...  46 

City  Life, 40 

Clock  of  the  Conscience,  The,        .         .         .         .         .         212 

Cloudless  Natures, ".         .        -.188 

Comfort  in  Trouble,      . 59 

Coming  Boldly  to  the  Throne, 48 

Coming  into  Life  through  a  Right  Gate,         .         .         .         301 
Commentary,  A  Living,  .          .          .          .          .          .          .199 

Common  Life,  The  Piteousness  of,          ....         229 

Conclusion  of  a  Voyage  the  Test  of  its  Success,          .         .       21 
Confirmation  of  Hope  Wanting,     .         .         .         .  *      .  58 

Conjunctive  Particle,  The, 136 

Connection  between  Spiritual  and  Secular  Bankruptcy,    .         104 
Consummation  of  our  Life-work,        .....     245 

Contempt  for  the  Common  People  the  Guilt  of  the  Pharisees,  137 
Contempt  and  Coldness  a  Violation  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Bible,  140 
Cross,  Doctrine  of  the,  in  Paul's  Days  and  in  ours,          .  3 

Cross,  The,  and  the  Garden,     ......       84 

Crucifixion  of  the  Passions, 160 


INDEX.  315 

Daisies  of  Life,  The,  and  the  Plough  of  Trouble,        .         .  71 

Darkness  in  the  Alps,   .......  301 

Deceits  of  language,          .......  65 

Defeat  and  its  uses,       .......  35 

Despotism  Unchangeable,          ......  31 

Devotion  the  Means  —  Piety  the  Result,          .         .         .  241 

Dew-drops,      .........  67 

Difference  between  Dependence  upon  and  Communion  with  God,  282 

Difference  between  Heathenism  and  Old  Testament  Worship,  115 

Difference  between  Paul's  Christianity  and  ours,      .         .  16 

Difficulty  of  Subduing  Reason,           .....  141 

Disappointments  and  their  Uses,    .....  23 

Divine  Government,  Facts  of  the, 268 

Doctor  Sun, 42 

Doctrinal  Preaching,         .......  250 

Does  the  Christian  Sin  ? 198 

"  Don't  Care,"  Infidel's,  and  the  Christian's,      ...  97 

Drop  of  Water,  The, 289 

Dwarfed  Bodies,       ........  46 

Dying  in  Harness, 21 

Earnestness  in  doing  Right  an  Omnipotent  Example, .         .  131 

Education  and  Development,          .         .         .         .         .  114 

Education  for  this  Life  and  the  Next,         ....  230 

Elements  of  Hatred  to  God  in  every  Man,       .         .         .  121 

Employment  of  Time,       .......  66 

Encouragement  from  the  Doctrine  of  the  New  Birth,        .  119 

Epistles  of  Christ, 202 

Erroneous  Conceptions  of  Divine  Worship,     .         .         .  238 

Essentials,  not  Accidental  Relations,           ....  133 

Every  Man  can  Sin,      .         .         .         .         .         .              .  114 

Excitement  better  than  Silence  and  Death,          .         .         .129 

Excuses  at  Day  of  Judgment  Melting  at  God's  Look,      .  201 

Existence  of  Evil  Spirits,           ......  85 

Expedients  and  Principles,    .         .         .         .         .         .  117 

Experience  Enriches  Life,          ......  26 

Faculties  Ineradicable,           ......  61 

Faith  has  no  Tendency  to  Produce  Carelessness,          .         .199 

Faith,  The  Order  of, 21 

Faith,  The  Radiancy  of,   .          .         .         .         .         .         .95 

Falling  off  in  Religious  Culture,    .         ...         .  291 

Fear  False  and  True,        .         ..'.'.         .         .  94 

Fighting  Pride  and  Vanity,  .         .         .         .         .         .  145 

Filial  Trust, 169 


316  INDEX. 

Finding  out  how  to  Live,       .         .         .         .         .         .  127 

Fled  for  Refuge  —  The  Anchor  of  Hope,     .         .         .         .233 

Floats  on  the  World-tide, 63 

Folly  of  Questioning  the  Divine  Wisdom  in  respect  of  Gov- 
ernment,              268 

Folly  of  Waiting  for  Conviction, 148 

Forces,  The  Euling, 223 

Forfeited  Immortality,           ......  92 

Formation  of  Young  Men's  Ideas,     .         .         .         .         .14 

Fortune,  A  Princely      .         .         .         .         .         .         .  158 

Free  Speech  the  Tonic  of  Nations,     .         .         .         .         .131 

Freshness  of  God's  Promises,          .....  265 

Genteel  Christians, 297 

Gladness,  A  Source  of  .......  62 

God  at  the  Helm, 171 

"  God  "  suggests  Care,  Kindness,  Goodness,    .         .         .  208 

God  Supplies  Materials  —  Man  Works,      ....  28 

God  Supreme,  but  not  Solitary,      .         .         .         .         .  186 

God  the  best  Judge  of  Man's  Needs, 102 

God  the  Centre  of  Glory, 80 

God's  Bride, :         .'        .  52 

God's  Fatherhood  to  the  Christian,         .         .         .  •       .  254 

God's  Gentleness, 228 

God's  Glory  to  be  Interpreted  in  Christ  Jesus,         .         .  274 

God's  Government  Unseen,       ......  257 

God's  Hidden  Ones, 23 

God's  Love  Eternal,          .         .         .         .         .  .55 

God's  Love  not  Dependent  on  our  Character,          ,         .  54 

God's  Payments,      ........  39 

God's  Sovereignty  in  his  Love,      .         .         .         .      ;  .  90 

God's  Thoughts  not  as  Man's  Thoughts     .         .         .         .  251 

God's  Union  with  Man,         .         .         .         .         .         .  174 

God's  Ways  of  Coming  into  the  Soul  without  Number,        .  202 

God's  Word  an  Unopened  Treasure,       ....  269 

God's  Word  a  Spiritual  Treasury,      .         .         ,      •  .         .  191 

God-blighted  Children, 296 

Godliness  Profitable  for  all  Things, 103 

Godly  men  possessed  by  the  World  after  Death,      .         .  87 

Going  before  God  with  our  Guilt,      .....  49 

Going  Down  like  the  Glacier,         .  '      .         ,         .         .  1 83 
Golden  Mean  in  Religion,  The,       •  .         .       •  .  •      .         .151 

Goodness  smarter  than  Baseness,   .         .         .    '-  •  .         .  209 

Gospel,  The,  a  Sword,      .         .         .         .         ."    •  .         .  226 

Gospel's  Comprehensiveness,  The, 173 


INDEX.  317 

Grace  necessary  for  Growth  in  Man,  .....  235 

Green  Devils, 41 

Grief  should  be  Embosomed  in  Hope 93 

Grindstone,  The  World  a, 27 

Growing  Rich  by  Giving,           ......  80 

Guilty  Silence, ,35 

Habits  of  Hearing, 68 

Happiness  and  Prosperity,      .         .         .         .         .         .  113 

Hard  to  be  a  Saint  in  a  Golden  Niche,       .         .         .         .135 

Hatred  of  Selfishness  in  Others,  not  in  Ourselves,    .         .  145 
Health  and  Happiness,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .37 

Heaven,  a  Daily  .         .         .         . '        .         .         .         .  73 

Hidden  Reverence  for  the  Bible,         .....  197 

Holy  Ghost,  The  Doctrine  of  the, 176 

Home-sickness  of  the  Heart,       ......  246 

Honesty  in  Business,     .         .         .         .         .         .         .  217 

Honors  only  Useful  in  this  Life,         .....  219 

Hospital,  The  World's, 308 

Hours  of  God's  Visitation,         .         .         ...         .         .  304 

How  the  World  Values  Things, 132 

How  to  be  Released  from  Inclinations,        ....  88 

How  to  Come  to  Christ, 309 

How  to  produce  Conviction  of  Christ's  Divinity,          .         .  214 

How  to  stop  Feelings,  .......  69 

Human  Heart,  The,  and  its  Effects,  .         .         .         .         .  65 

Human  Life  a  Campagna,      .         .         .         .         .         .  193 

Human  Weathercocks,      ....         .     '    .         .         .105 

Humboldt  and  the  Young  Indian,           .         .         .         .  215 

Humility  and  Strength  the  Divine  Ideal  of  Character,          .  6 

Ideas  Cosmopolitan,      .         .         .         .        .         .         .  262 

Ignorance  of  what  Concerns  Ourselves,       .         .         .         .14 

"  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,"      .         .         .      •  .  286 

"  I  must  Take  Care  of  my  Religion,"         ....  290 

"  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee,"      .         .         .  213 
Imaginary  Troubles,         .         .         .                   .         .         .118 

Imagination  God's  Self  in  the  Soul,       ....  48 

Imbecile  Men,           ........  160 

Immediatism  the  Fool's  Philosophy,       ..       .         .         .  106 

Imperfection,  The  World  full  of, 303 

Importance  of  Self,       .         .         .         .         .         .         «  .  63 

Impossibility  of  Incarnating  Ideas  in  Words,      .          .          .  106 

Impressions  we  Leave  of  God  and  Christ,        .         .         .  202 

"  lu  honor  preferring  one  another,"   .  138 


318  INDEX. 

Incarnation  Mystery,  The, 187 

Incompatibility  of  Faith  and  Much  Thought,      ...  76 

Increasing  Distance  of  our  Ideal,    .....  48 

Infinity, 226 

Influence  of  Talk, 64 

Inseparableness  of  the  Soul  and  Christ,       ....  208 

Intensity  of  the  Divine  Love,          .....  13 

Intolerable  Conscientiousness,   ......  94 

Intrinsic  Wealth,  .          .          .    ' 231 

Invisible  Witnesses  of  Human  Conduct,     ....  4 

Inward  Light  Quenched,        ......  66 

Inward  Sufferers,      ........  300 

Inwardly  Rich  and  Inwardly  Poor,          .         .         .         .  108 

"  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,"         .         .         .  257 

Justice  Grows  upon  us,          ......  74 

Justice  Worth  more  than  Corn-fields,          .         .       .  .         .128 

Last  First,  The,  and  the  First  Last,        ....  221 

Law  an  Index  of  God's  Way,    ......  89 

Laws  of  Nature  in  Abeyance,          .         .         .         .         .  1 29 

Leniency  to  Others  —  Rigidity  with  Ourselves,    ...  36 

Life  a  March,        ........  11 

Life  Blossoming  at  Different  Seasons,         ....  100 

Life  God's  School-house,        .         .         .         ...         .  124 

Life  of  Piety  a  Common  Life,    ......  45 

Likeness  of  Men  to  Machinery,       .         .         .         .         .  154 

Likeness  of  Mothers  to  the  Saviour,  .....  191 

Likeness  of  the  Constitutionally  Benevolent  to  God,         .  289 
Lopsided  Christian  Characters,          .         .         .         .         .178 

Loss  of  Personal  Identity  in  the  Church's  Identity,          .  66 
Love  and  Worship,  .          .         .         .         .         .         .         .19 

Love  the  Chiefest  Thing, 284 

Love  the  Gauge  of  True  Manhood,    .         .         .         .         .  1 80 

Love  the  Motive  Power,         .         .         .         .         .  '      .  135 

Love,  The  Savor  of, 197 

Lowering  the  Standard,          .         .         .         .         .  "185 

Lugubrious  Complaining  about  the  World,       -  ,         .         .  19 

Man  as  a  Spiritual  Being,          .         .         .         .         .         .  276 

Man  God's  Courier,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .  56 

Man  like  a  Cask  of  Wine,          .'        .         .          .          .         .140 

Man  to  be  Measured  by  that  which  makes  him  Man,         .  275 
Man  to  be  Measured  by  the  Faculties  given  him,         .         .133 

Man's  Development  the  Measure  of  his  Happiness,  .         .  191 


INDEX.  319 

Man's  Freedom  and  the  Absolute  Will,      ....  31 

Man's  Good  the  Highest  End 144 

Man's  Ignorance  of  his  Real  Nature,'          .         .         .         .110 

Man's  Reproduction  of  God's  Dealings,           .         .         .  234 

Manhood,  A  Receipt  for,           ......  95 

Manifestation  of  the  Divine  Love,           ....  12 

Manufactory,  The  World  a, .233 

Maternal  Love  a  Revelation  of  the  Love  of  God,      .         .  2 

Michael  Angelo  and  the  Sistine  Chapel,      .  310 

Microscopic  Differences,         ......  55 

Mirth  God's  Medicine, 248 

Misapplied  Forethought,        ......  96 

Miserere,  The,  of  the  New  Testament,         ....  145 

Mission  of  Suffering,     .......  122 

Mistaking  Callings,           .......  78 

Meaning  in  Flowers,     .         .         ...         .         •         .  124 

Meanness  of  Cowardly  Christians,      .....  97 

Meanness  of  Slavery,    .......  247 

Men  get  what  they  Deserve,      .         .         .         .         .         .  1 88 

Men  need  Grinding,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .  195 

Men  not  to  be  Measured  by  their  Callings,          .         .         .137 

Men  Unconscious  of  God's  Nearness,      ....  200 

Men  who  get  what  they  Deserve  —  Nothing,       ...  78 

Message  of  the  Trees  from  God,     .         .         .         .         .  180 

Metallic  Lives, 108 

Moral  Insensibility,       .......  256 

Moral  Principle,  The  Might  of, 34 

Moral  Principle  the  True  Compass,        ....  131 

Mother's  Teachings,  A,     .......  288 

My  Mother's  Hyacinth,          .         .         .                  .         .  17 

Natural  Things  afford  no  Analogue  of  Spiritual  Development,   95 

Necessity  for  a  New  Birth,    .         .         .         .         .         .  17 

Necessity  of  Expression,    .         ...         .         .         .         .  116 

Nervous  Scrupulosity,  .......  93 

New  Testament  View  of  God  in  Christ,      ....  302 

Niagara,  Fool  Crossing,         .         .         .         .         •         .  152 

No  Barrenness  in  the  Soul's  Summer,        ....  75 

No  Danger  of  Over-exalting  Christ,        .         ...  216 

No'  Death  to  those  who  Know  how  to  Die,          ...  73 

No  Experience  Exactly  Pure  and  Natural,      ...         .  150 

No  Home  in  this  World,  .......  232 

No  Homeliness  in  Natural  Objects,          .         .         .  115 

No  Isolation  in  Creation, 248 

No  Peace  till  the  Consummation  of  Purity,     .        .         .  222 


320  INDEX. 

No  Room  for  Hesitation  in  Worshipping  Christ,          .         .  220 

No  Salvation  out  of  Christ,  ......  283 

Nobody  without  his  Equivalents,        .....  86 

Not  Quality,  but  Quantity, 194 

"  Not  unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  Name !"        .         .         .         .  312 

Odorous  Vines,        ........  105 

Old  Katy, 44 

Old  Testament  Cheerfulness, 162 

Omnipotence  of  Small  Things, 22 

Only  One  Way, 266 

Opposition  to  God  both  Open  and  Declarative,         .         .  123 

Outward  Life  not  an  Index  of  Inward  State,       ...  87 

Outward  Prosperity,      .......  32 

Outward  Success  Worthless  in  Itself,         .         .         .         .15 

Overcome  Evil  with  Good, 198 

Owl  and  Bat  Philosophy,          .         .         .         .         .         •  286 

Parent,  The,  a  Bible  to  His  Family,       ....  201 

Parental  Love  an  Image  of  God's  Love,     .         .         .         .10 

Paths  of  Light  and  Beds  of  Darkness,    ....  205 

Patriarchs  of  the  Pool,      .         •         .         .         .         .         .35 

Paul's  Contentment,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .  125 

Paul's  Self-abnegation,      .         .         .         .  .         .16 

Paul's  Wish  for  his  Kinsmen,        .         .         .         .         .  189 

Peace  at  Last,          ........  24 

Penalty  of  Guilty  Knowledge,        .....  270 

Permission  to  Labor  for  God  Undeserved,  ....  287 

Perpetual  Recipients,    .         .         .         .         .  -       .         .  54 

Personal  Experience  an  Evidence  of  Christ's  Divinity,         .  221 

Picture-gallery,  A 59 

Pigeon-shooting,        ...                 .....  207 

Pitiableness  of  merely  Wealthy  Men,      .         .         .  247 

Playing  on  One  String, 250 

Plenty  in  the  Father's  House, 204 

Policy  of  the  Devil,           .......  233 

Power  of  Public  Sentiment, 32 

Power  of  the  Keys, 271 

Praise,  The  Union  of,  .         .         .         .         •         .         .  178 

Preaching  by  Silent  Example,  .         .                  ...  254 

Precious  Stones,    ........  282 

Present  Premonitions  of  a  Coming  Future,         ...  1 

Present  Trials  trifling  when  compared  with  Coming  Glory,  124 

Pride,  The  Disease  of, 29 

Principles  like  Rays  of  Light,         .....  207 


INDEX.  321 

Professional  Air  of  Piety, 88 

Promises  for  every  Condition, 264 

Providence  and  Luck,       .         .         .         .         .         .         .104 

Providence  —  Not  Fatality, 203 

Pruning  by  the  Heavenly  Husbandman,  .  .  .  .12 
Puritanism's  Essential  Idea,  .  .  .  .  .  159 
Puritans  the  Swords  of  God, 170 

Regulating  by  False  Standards,      .....  68 

Religion  like  the  Coming  of  Spring, 259 

Religion  not  like  a  Bird  in  a  Cage,         ....  144 

Religion  not  merely  a  Title  to  Heaven,        ....  243 

Religion  the  Right  Use  of  a  Man's  Self,          .         .         .    •  258 

Religion  Working  Vertically  and  Horizontally,  ...  43 

Religious  Egotism,       .         .         .         .         .         .         .  70 

Remuneration  of  Suffering  for  God,    .....  298 

Repentance  and  Humiliation,          .         .         .         .         .  11 

Resurrection  of  the  Witnesses,  ......  252 

Revolutions  by  Mind-power,  ......  34 

Rich  Moral  Nature  a  Doubtful  Blessing,     .         .         .         .108 

Righteousness  Hereditary,     .         .         .         .         .         .  158 

Righteousness  the  Foundation  of  Human  Life,    .         .         .126 

Romantic  Ideas  of  Sinfulncss,        .....  57 

Running  Mad  for  Philanthropy,         .....  18 

Sabbath,  A  World  without  a,         ..... 

Sacrament,  The  Whole  Globe  a 

Sacrificing  Piety  to  Save  the  Church,     .... 

Satan  overreaching  Himself,      ...... 

Scepticism  of  our  Time,         ...... 

Scripture  Teaching  regarding  our  Nature  and  Condition,     , 
Seclusion  from  the  World  not  necessary  for  the  Christian, 
Securing  Salvation  a  Real  Business,  .... 

Seeming  Gradual  Disclosures  of  God's  Love, 

Selfness  and  Selfishness,  ....... 

Self-abandonment  —  Hope  in  Christ,      .... 

Self-knowledge  a  Divine  Work,          .... 

Self-reliance  to  be  Cultivated  in  Children, 

Self-seeking  and  Stewardship  for  God,        .... 

Selfishness  of  Grief,      ....... 

Sense  in  which  God  lives  for  His  own  Glory, 
Sensitiveness  of  the  Soul,      ...... 

Sermonizing  easier  than  Pastoral  Visitation, 

Silence  of  Great  Developments,      ..... 

Sin  no  Cause  of  Discouragment,       .... 


322  INDEX. 

Sin  of  Living  for  Selfish  Enjoyment,      ....         307 

Single  Virtues  of  Little  Account,       .         .         .         .         .120 

Society  a  Training-school  for  Heaven,    ....  25 

Solitude  of  the  Divine  Love,      .         .         .         .         .         .166 

"  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these,"  164 
Something  of  God  in  every  Man,       .         .         .         .         .192 

Soul  Formless,  The, 99 

Soul,  The  Bountiful  Mother  of  the, 142 

Soul,  The  —  Who  Sees  or  Knows  it  ?    .         .         .         .  71 

Soul's  Likeness  to  a  Seed,         .         .         .         .         .         -118 

Soul-ancestry,       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         178 

Soul-longings,  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .195 

Soul-union,  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          175 

Sounding  the  Depths  of  the  Precipice  of  Life,     .         .         .     240 
Spiritual  Scale  for  Measuring  Character,        .         .         .  15 

Spiritual  Truths  written  on  Fleshly  Tables,        ...       68 
Spiders'  Webs  Invisible,        .         .         .         .         .         .         157 

Spontaneousness  of  Christ's  Life,       .....     236 

Spring  in  the  Soul, 244 

Spring,  The  World's, 242 

St  Peter's  at  Rome  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,          .  7 

Staple  Cause  of  Scepticism,       .         .  .         .         .152 

"  Stand  fast  in  the  faith," 219 

Standing  in  the  Presence  of  God,      .         .         .         .         .109 

Strength  in  Weakness,  ......         260 

"  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"        ....     260 

Striving  toward  Something  Better,         .         .         .         .         184 

Stunted  Love, 82 

Sudden  Conversions  not  to  be  Disbelieved,      .         .         .         147 
Suffering  Blossoming  in  Heaven,       .         .         .         .  295 

Suffering  the  Measure  of  Love,      .         .         .         .         .  19 

Superfluous  Self-denial, 295 

Superstitious  Piety, 90 

Superstitious  Reading  of  the  Bible, 112 

Surface  Feelings,  .......         157 

Sweetness  of  Resting  on  Simple  Faith,       ....     203 

Sympathy  ought  to  run  Downward,  not  Upward,    .         .         143 

Taking  Advantage  of  the  Love  of  God,      .         .         .         .165 
Tantalizations,      ........  60 

Teachings  of  the  Empty  Cradle, 225 

Telegraph,  The  Longest,       .         .         .         .         .         .  51 

Terrible  Convictions  of  Sin  Better  than  None,     .         .         .148 

Theology  Changeable, 53 

Thistle-down, 142 


INDEX.  323 

Three  in  One,  The, 46 

«  Thy  will  be  done !" 116 

Times  in  which  Men  ought  to  Wish  to  Live,  .         .         .  109 

Too  Little  Relaxation, 42 

Treating  God's  Promises  like  Bank-notes,       .         .         .  256 

Tree  of  Life,  The -122 

Trial  the  Proof  of  Things, 76 

Trouble  and  Consolation, 74 

Trouhle  and  its  Uses, 70 

Truant  Child  and  his  Hidden  Guilt,  The,  .  .         .49 

Two  Kinds  of  Heroes, 263 

Two  Meanings  of  the  Word  "  Nature,"      ....  238 

Two  Ways  of  Preaching  Love,      .         .                  .         .  138 

Unappreciated  Men,          .......  36 

Unexpectedness  of  Death, 85 

Unfathomable,  The  Soul, 15 

Unfinished  Work,          .         .         .         .         .         .         .  172 

Uninstructed  Wisdom,      .......  304 

Union  with  a  Great  Idea, 229 

Unison  and  Concord,        .......  63 

Universal  Belief  of  the  Immortality  of  Love,   .         .         .  195 

Unknown  Habits, 68 

Unreasonable  Doubts  and  Fears,    .....  28 
Unreasonable  Forebodings,        .         .         .         .         .         .61 

Unsearchableness  of  Love, 290 

Up-hill  and  Down-hill  Patience, 242 

Utilitarians,          ........  42 

Value  of  Things,  The  True  Measure  of  the,       .         .        .  224 

Vanity  Desecrates  all  Things,        .         .         .         .   •  146 

Vicarious  Suffering  in  every  Detail  of  Life,         .         .        .  293 

Visions  of  Christ,          .......  288 

Walking  Bibles, 92 

Walking  on  Stilts, 101 

War's  Lessons 26 

Watch  unto  Prayer, 281 

Weakness  of  Worldly  Things,  ......  261 

What  it  is  to  become  a  Christian,  .....  80 

What  Men  are  Built  of, 227 

What  to  Die  on, .  61 

When  the  Heart  begins  to  Know  its  Grief,         .                 .  64 

Whitfield  and  the  Wesleys,    ....  168 


324 


INDEX. 


Who  are  the  Worst  Infidels  ? 

Why  should  our  Courage  Fail  ? 

Wicked  Boldness,    ....... 

Wonderful  Convictions  no  Test  of  a  Man's  Christianity,  . 
World  Music  in  the  Minor  Key,         .... 


82 

57 

51 

150 

265 


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